Lessons on Letting Go from the Oak Tree

In January, we often commit to making changes in our lives. Usually, these are new habits or other things we want to start and this can feel burdensome. I don’t know about you, but all the motivation-speak on LinkedIn makes me feel a little bit like a loser for not having all my shiny new resolutions set and ready to go.  In our situation of what many call VUCA – volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity – adding new things doesn’t mean improvement. It means stress. If this is your situation, then it’s time to focus on one of Nature’s most important lessons. Instead of making resolutions to begin things, we look to Nature to understand why this is really the season of letting go of what no longer serves us.

Embedded deep in its design is Nature’s lesson that form must fit function. In this scenario, form equals behavior, and function is defined as the purpose and intention behind an action. In every ecosystem, Nature ensures that all processes, feedback loops, and forms (behaviors) align to serve the desired higher purpose.

Lessons from the Oak Tree

The oak tree is a wonderful example. As an oak tree grows, its leaves gain energy from sunlight. Through photosynthesis, that energy is then transformed into nutrients. As this occurs, the oak tree gets wider and taller. However, the branches that used to be at the top of the tree stay where they originally were, relative to the trunk. As the tree ages, these older branches and leaves become overshadowed by new, higher branches.

Shaded by the new canopy,  these older branches can’t perform photosynthesis. They’re no longer able to add nutrients to the oak tree. Eventually, the oak tree stops sharing nutrients with these lower branches, and the leaves die.  Perhaps a snowstorm or a big wind occurs, and those branches drop off the tree. What’s left is a self-healing circle where each branch used to be.

I have twelve oak trees in my yard, each of them more than a hundred years old. I can attest to the enormous cleanup needed when my beloved oaks let go of branches after a storm.

Yet there is no visible trauma or drama as the oak trees go through this process. The design principle that form must fit function is how these trees adapt to the growth and change they experience as they naturally evolve. It’s effortless. (Although I can’t say the same for picking up the branches!)

 Read how one organization modeled Nature’s process of letting go to recover from a former toxic leader.

Letting go accelerates our evolution

Nature makes this process seem easy. As humans, it’s not always as easy to identify the behaviors, beliefs, and habits that no longer serve us. The areas of our lives where form no longer fits function might feel uncomfortable, if not downright painful, to consider. As humans, we often struggle to let them go.

How, then, can we take a lesson from the oak tree? There are simple steps to model model Nature’s design personally and as leaders.

The first step is to take enough time to discern the behaviors and mindsets that no longer serve us. Ask yourself:

• What’s working?
• What’s causing discomfort in our lives and careers?
• Which relationships are making us feel good – and which make us feel bad?

Make a list of those things that no longer serve you. And resolve to let them go. If you commit to this resolve, you’ll soon find the energy you receive from your remaining healthy “branches” will accelerate the positive changes you seek. It will happen naturally, without forcing yourself to start anything “new.”

Achieving transformation naturally

Accelerating the letting go process is a powerful strategy for influencing positive change as individuals and within our organizations and communities. I love that living systems are in constant movement and that they scale naturally as they grow.

Nature’s adaptive cycle – picture an infinity loop –  is a never-ending process of exploring, launching, sustaining, and letting go. Every time the system releases forms that no longer serve function, the energy of release reorganizes to fuel the next adaptive cycle. As individuals and as organizations, we can use this formidable design principle to continue to adapt.

This year, I invite you to reflect on what no longer serves you. Let those branches go.