Brain Science: Language and Its Many Meanings by Art Kohn

“Unfortunately, we are not in a position to insist that words have only one meaning. But by using demonstrations like this, we can at least help our organizations become aware that language can confuse us and prevent us from finding solutions that are pleasing to all of us.”

Do you have communication problems in your organization? Do people argue endlessly, pointlessly, and never seem to make any progress? And do these communication issues end up with frustrated, grumpy, and unproductive people?

I see a lot of nodding heads, so this month I’d like to share with you one of my favorite classroom demonstrations which will help your organization improve its training and clarify its communication. You can incorporate it into any instructor-led training and it is especially nice because it gets people standing up, laughing, and best of all, thinking.

To get started, read the following passage to your learners.

A hunter is walking through a forest when he spots a squirrel on a tree in front of him. He slowly draws back his bow, but as he does so, the squirrel quickly moves to the opposite side of the tree. The hunter decides to stalk the squirrel and he begins to walk in a clockwise direction around the tree. But each time he takes a step, the squirrel takes an evasive step staying on the opposite side of the tree. The hunter continues moving clockwise around the tree but he never again sees the elusive squirrel. Eventually the hunter finds himself back where he started.

The facts of the case are pretty straight forward, but you can reread the passage verbatim until everyone agrees they understands the scenario. Then ask them the following seemingly innocuous question:

“Did the hunter go around the squirrel?”

The answer seems obvious to most people. Before we continue, let me ask what you think. Do you think that the hunter went around the squirrel?

I have done this demonstration many times, and what is intriguing is that about half of the participants say, “Yes, he went around the squirrel,” and half answer with an equally emphatic, “No, he did not go around the squirrel.”

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