It was Christmas and I was making my grandmotherās brandy cream for the pudding. I took an egg to separate the yolk and egg white.
Tapping the egg on the bowl, nothing happened.
So, I tapped harder.
And harder. The egg didnāt crack.
Thinking it may have been a hard boiled egg, I set the egg aside and grabbed another. Same thing. Nothing happened. The egg bounced off the countertop without so much as a dint.
These eggs were uncrackable! What on earth was happening?
So, I looked a bit closer. I didnāt have chicken eggs in my hand at all š„. They were wooden eggs.
Iād been looking after my neighbourās chickens and she subsequently told me ā with great amusement ā that they leave wooden eggs in the nest to train the chickens to lay.
This reminds me of two psychological principles:
-
The Curse of Knowledge
Once we know something, itās difficult for us to see how others wouldnāt. It never occurred to my neighbour to explain that I shouldnāt collect (let alone try to eat) the wooden eggs because she thought it was obvious.
- At work, donāt assume people know the jargon that you are familiar with and donāt assume they are as informed (or interested) as you are about a topic. Use plain language and start meetings with a recap to ensure everyone is up to speed.
-
Functional fixedness
We can lock on to an explanation and itās difficult for us to see an alternative. I had no conception that wooden eggs existed and couldnāt see a reason for them not cracking like a normal egg should.
- At work, if people jump to a solution too quickly and shut out other options, build in some deliberate provocation to stimulate creativity. Constraints can be useful (e.g. imagine we no longer have access toā¦), as can adding something from another field (e.g. how does an unrelated industry solve this issue?)
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