What comes after hierarchy?

As you probably figured out by now, bees are my heroes.

Not only do they naturally produce the most robust structure in nature -- the hexagon -- but also the only foodstuff on the planet that doesn't spoil -- honey.

I call my time being in groups, deep in the buzz of working well together, "being in the beehive." 

So it may also not be surprising that bees have a way of working together that offers us a model of how, we too, might be more collectively intelligent.

It's called heterarchy.

It is a mammalian trait to live in hierarchies. So its not strange we do too. Even the body has it's own natural hierarchy. Hierarchy itself is not a bad thing.

But when hierarchy gets out of balance it leads to comparison, competition, greed, control. It leads to colonialism, conquest and pain.

We have a ravenous hunger for knowledge because we think it can lead to power. But what happens to wisdom?

We are ceaselessly active because we believe we need to survive and get ahead. But what happens to the stillness creativity needs? What happens to the natural cycle of rest and renewal? What happens to health, vitality, belonging?

Heterarchy is a collective intelligence in which the members all contribute to the whole in their own way. This is the way bees and ants work together.

In human systems, working in this collaborative way starts with building enough trust so that people are willing and able to bring their unique gifts and talents in service of the whole. Each member has has to find the individual freedom to contribute.

I've seen this come to life during an Art of Hosting training -- clusters of groups and individuals all working on their piece of contribution. (read more about that here)

Trust and invitation are high enough that the door opens inside. We are endlessly surprised by each other's contribution, creativity and wisdom. We are more because of each other.

In short, we are making honey together. It is a honey that could serve generations.