Second expert meeting was an inspiring gathering!

One of the research methods we use to validate and to improve the design principles, is expert meetings. This year we organise three. The first one was with experts in the field of learning and change. Last week we had the second one. I invited a researcher with expertise on system innovation, a researcher who did his PhD study on learning for sustainability and a researcher who is concerned with learning in planning processes.

One of the issues raised concerned learning from successes (the 6th design principe). There were two contradictory statements:

• Reflection on the successes you've booked does not contribute to innovation: For innovation it is necessary to have exploratory learning processes whereas looking back upon attained success may inhibit the exploration of new possibilities and may stimulate people to live on what they already got.
• When we look at innovation from a learning perspective however, it seems necessary for people to reflect upon their past successes. For learning it is necessary that people feel confident and believe in their own capacities (self-efficacy). Analysing the successes you've had and reflecting upon what you've learned, improves this.

Our preliminary conclusion here was that learning from past success is necessary for learning and team building (direct consequence: short term), and therefore it indirectly improves innovation (long-term).