Exotic behaviour: cultural norms and the wild west. This blog is about exotic behaviour in an archipelago of craggy islands off the west coast of Scotland.

Cultural norms and values give us predictability in the outdoor sector. In short, they provide us with expectations, shaping how we think and act as mountain professionals.

exotic adjective 1. Unusual and interesting, usually because it comes from or is related to a distant country…

When Charles Darwin set off in 1831 on HMS Beagle, he had little ambition for the groundbreaking scientific research which would secure his fame. After surveying the coasts of South America, the ship stopped over in the Galapagos Islands.

Darwin and Exotic Behaviour

During his visit, Darwin noted that the finches were similar from island to island, while also adapted to their own island environments.

Darwins finches were thought to be descendants of the same lineage. But in his ‘Theory of Natural Selection’ Darwin proposed how they had also rapidly adapted to their environments including, beak shape, body sized and plumage.

Importantly for this blog, they also displayed different behaviour…

Exotic Behaviour

Some of the behaviours were considered exotic. They were unusual and interesting, or perhaps thought to come from a different country. A colleague observed how certain locations had developed behaviours or cultural norms in the mountaineering community. These are not necessarily common practice elsewhere. An archipelago of craggy islands off the west coast of Scotland being their cited example.

Working in a silo away from the influence of others, creates a rapid evolution in behaviour. This is further compounded by being surrounded by other mountain professionals operating in a similar way. Opportunities to observe others are extremely limited. Exotic behaviour creates a situation where there is a culture of doing things in a particular way. The challenge is that culture or behaviour may not match best practice, or even community practice elsewhere.

Cultural Norms and Ratios

Instructional and guiding ratios are a good example of cultural norms in the UK. In many cases they remain un-communicated, forming part of the hidden curriculum that we all navigate. We are left to work these out for ourselves in many cases, applying them to our daily work. This was the subject of a previous blog post: 1x What’s in a mountain guiding ratio.

culture noun. “the way we do things around here” – Terry Deal and Allan Kennedy, 1982.

More recently, further examples include attachment to the rope in scrambling terrain. It has become common to attach clients to the rope with karabiners rather than tied into the rope in some cases. Dogma aside there are always advantages and disadvantages to these methods. But just because there is a culture of others doing the same, does not suddenly make a technique accepted practice.

Finches

Darwin proposed how the finches had rapidly adapted to their environments. More recently, Darwin’s finches have been observed to change their behaviour again due to different human influences. The important message here is that behaviour or culture is not fixed, it is not constant. We can change it if we welcome alternative perspectives that challenge our norms.

Avoiding Exotic Behaviour…

• Be prepared to listen to alternative or external perspectives.
• Think about your values and those of your profession.
• Be clear about standards – talk about norms and acceptable practice.
• Set an example. If you are an instructor or guide you should be able to role model and explain your work.
• Techniques or approaches that are easy for the professional are not necessary best for our clients.

If you liked this article you may wish to read 1x What’s in a mountain guiding ratio. Check out Assured Training or E-Learning.