Dropping Ducks
Two hunters watching flocks of geese and ducks at lake loading their rifles. The first hunter, John, loads his gun, cocks it, and points it in the air.
“This won’t work!” exclaims Burnie, the second hunter. A round shoots prematurely in the air.
“What won’t work?”
“This chair. It won’t work.”
With every word that Burnie said, a duck in flight fell to the ground.
“It can’t support my weight when i fire my rifle. It is just too small and flimsy.”
Trying to ignore the comments made by his friend, John loads up a new round, steadies his aim…
“I am telling you it won’t work!”
The gun fires prematurely, and in frustration John tells Burnie to shut up and then loads a new round. This time, he sees the ducks dropping out of the air at alarming rates. At first, the phenomena was too small to notice behind the sights of a rifle, but now entire flocks don’t make it beyond 10 feet from the ground when they drop.
“Hey, Burnie… look.”
Burnie was fixated on he seat, when John made his statement.
“Look, look, the ducks are hitting the ground from mid-flight…”
Burnie turns his eyes towards the ducks and sees the ducks taking flight. John, though confused, loaded a new round and started to steady his aim.
“The ducks are taking flight. They were on the ground the entire time. They never hit the ground…”
When Burnie spoke his last sentence, all the ducks and geese plummeted to the ground. John missed his shot, again.
Deferring judgment is the first step to using this games. Many times in groups, individuals find a reason to pass a judgment and starts a process that unravels any problem solving session. Rather than focusing their energy on the real issue, they choose to judge themselves, their teammates, the process, or the idea.
Research has indicated that practicing an approach that defers all forms of judgment when seeking opportunities, seeking ideas, or generating solutions produces better results when addressing a problem that requires some creativity. It sacrifices a potentially great solution for a mediocre one and destroys a positive and conducive problem solving climate. Like the inevitable dynamic between hunters in the narrative, the introduction of ill timed judgment creates tension and reason to not enjoy hunting.
Be patient when trying these games and feel free to experiment. Change the game up and try different combinations. They are, after all, a part of a problem solving party.
For more information on the principle of deferred judgment, check out the work of Alex Osborn in Applied Creativity published by the Creative Education Foundation.
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