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Experiences

When we learn, we add new skills or knowledge to what we already know.

Sometimes before we can learn new lessons, old ways may need to be unlearned.

When we unlearn, we step outside our mental model of how to do things in order to choose a different approach. Lessons management can help us do this by exposing us to other people’s experiences.

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Change

Unlearning is the ability to change what we previously learned and adapt to new ways of doing things.

The pace and scale of change continues to increase. Individuals and organisations need to be able to keep pace with change.

An example of unlearning is if manufacturers were to introduce new safety equipment in cars, the techniques that were previously used for road crash rescue are no longer safe and they need to change.

SES worker carrying safety equipment
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Being flexible

In a rapidly changing world, or emergency operation, individuals and organisations need to be flexible enough to use knowledge to adapt to emerging situations. We need to be flexible enough to access knowledge and lessons in a way that will enable us to utilise and learn from it.

Learning may be difficult but it is often unlearning that we really struggle with.

SES worker
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Example of Unlearning

Consider the need to unlearn your existing way of driving when driving a car in the United States.

In Australia you learned to drive on the left hand side of the road but you are now in the United States and need to drive on the right hand side of the road.

Once you learn to drive, many of your actions become automatic and you do them without thinking about them. In this example, you need to unlearn those automatic actions you learned about driving in Australia and relearn how to drive in the United States.

Man driving a car, sitting on the left hand