– An error culture wich supports change –
Honestly, I don’t know if this is true …
But I don’t care, because I like this image of appreciation and dealing with mistakes.
I think we can take a leaf out of that book – also in the working world. A positive error culture is a vital part of lean and any company which wants change. Only if people dare to make errors they are able to improve, learn new things, transform.
🎆The birth song of the Himba 🎆
(Loosely based on Cohen, Alan (2002): Wisdom of the Heart)
Among the Himba tribe of Namibia in southern Africa, the date of a child’s birth is not set at the time of its arrival in the world, nor in its conception, but much earlier: from the day the child is in the mind of its mother.
⠀
When a woman decides to have a child, she settles down under a tree and listens until she hears the song of the child who wants to be born. And after hearing the song of that child, she comes back to the man who will be the father of the child to teach him that song. And then, when they make love to form the child physically, they sing the song of the child to invite it.⠀
⠀
When the mother is pregnant, she teaches the child’s song to the midwives and older women of the village. Then, when the child is born, the old women and the people around it sing its song to welcome it.⠀
⠀
When the child grows up, the other villagers learn his song. So when the child falls or gets hurt, he always finds someone to pick him up and sing his song. And when the child does something miraculous or successfully goes through the rites of passage, the villagers sing his song to honor him.⠀
⠀
In the tribe, there is another occasion when the villagers sing for the child. When a person commits a deviant crime or social act at any time in his life, he is called to the center of the village and the people of the community form a circle around him. Then they sing his song.⠀
⠀
The tribe recognizes that correction of antisocial behavior is not through punishment, but through love and remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you don’t want or need to do anything that would harm the other person.⠀
And so it goes throughout life. In marriage, the songs are sung together.⠀
⠀
And when the child grows old and lies in his bed ready to die, all the villagers know his song, and they sing it for the last time.
