A recent study of the learning capabilities of the hummingbird is an example of the hidden talents that all creatures have for navigating and surviving in their environment. How do humans create and transmit business culture to one another? Part of the answer is illustrated by the memory prowess of the hummingbird.

The Study

Although the brain of a hummingbird is the size of an uncooked grain of rice, it quickly learns details of its environment. In an experiment with artificial flowers, the hummingbirds, not only learned the direction and distance of the flowers, but also when to return.

Scientists manipulated the duration between refills of nectar in the artificial flowers. The hummingbirds, with a strong need for flight efficiency, developed visitation schedules timed with the refill rates.  (Study Link)

Other studies show that insects such as bees learn the obstacles and the resources in their environments. If a horse walks a path frequently, the slightest change--a rock out of place or a small stick in the path--can startle the horse.

Associative Learning

In order to adapt to their environments, almost all creatures require the ability to learn and remember. This is associative learning/memory. It’s coincidental learning. We connect one thing or event with another. For example: the colors red and green with apples, fire is a source of heat, rum and coke drinks with feeling nauseated.

Here is a personal example of the associative learning process in action. I was 18 years old, in a bar in New York State, just over the border from New Jersey. I drank about five rum-and-cokes, quickly. This became the night of my first experience with too much alcohol and my stomach’s subsequent displeasure. On my weaving journey home, my stomach urgently requested that I pull over, jump out of the car and bend over. I’ve haven’t had a rum-and-coke since. Not a proud moment. Perhaps you have a similar story?

Remember your first week or two at a new job? Your head was swimming with names, policies, procedures and equipment features to remember. It doesn’t take long, however, before you switch to autopilot on a variety of things: where the coffee filters are stored, recalling there’s often bagels and cream cheese available after Monday’s sales meetings, learning what morning arrival times elicit smiles and what times raise eyebrows.

Unconscious Power

Humans, because we are self-aware and we have consciousness, fool ourselves into thinking that all learning is conscious learning. We are wrong. Associative Learning, a capacity of almost all mobile creatures, is often below conscious awareness. This is the gift of evolution.

For example, when I was 18, I didn’t say to myself, rum-and-coke makes me sick, don’t drink it again. My unconscious brain linked the pain of regurgitation to the taste of rum-and-coke all by itself. In fact, I like rum and I like coke, but I have some synaptic memory that blocks me from wanting to try that combination again. I know it’s illogical, but it’s a very real association that influences my behavior to this day.

FYI, according to a Stanford study, the conscious mind’s processing power (problem solving) is six percent of the human brain. Unconscious processing power is 11% of the brains capacity. You are probably curious, what’s the rest of the brain for? Most of the brain is consumed by sensory interfaces, body regulation, and information storage (including lots of raw information that later gets discarded as unimportant). The point is that most thinking and learning is going on outside our awareness.

Cultural Survival

In the business world, we learn what behaviors are rewarded and which ones are punished; what actions work and what doesn’t; who is influential and who isn’t; and what you can talk about and what is taboo. Sometimes we are aware of our learning, often we are not.

We have much in common with the hummingbird: moving around our environment, learning where the flowers are and where they are not; and which flowers produce nectar fast and which produce more slowly. We pick up little details, and we experience dramatic moments. All of our experiences are teaching us how to survive, whether we are aware of it or not.

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Keywords. Associative Learning, Business Culture, organization culture, unconscious learning, change leadership

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Michael Cushman, The Engaging Guru, wants you to master enrolling others in your truth, get the goodies of life, and change the world.  www.engagingchange.com