Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
new, hardly anything has a meaning. The problem with things that
don
tbestoredintoourmemoryor
integrated in our thinking process. If a coach explains a part of the
process and a newcomer has not yet developed the frame of reference
to understand what is explained, he will hear the words but not the
meaning and he will forget the whole story. That
'
t have a meaning yet is they can
'
'
s the reason why coa-
ches can become desperate sometimes, because they thought that they
had explained it well and the newcomer still isn
'
t able to remember it.
Step by step, the frame of reference of a newcomer will grow, as will
her possibilities to learn. During the induction period, we cannot
assume that new employees understand the processes and the risks
involved. We need to instruct them because they are starting from
scratch. Once they start to understand the processes, they will be able
to estimate the risks involved at work.
Newcomers develop a frame of reference, step by step, with which they
can understand the work.
So the quality of understanding the process is crucial in risk under-
standing. Our ignorance for blind spots is one of the most disturbing
factors we encounter in this process. This ignorance is two-folded: We
don
t recognize our own ignorance, and we also have problems recog-
nizing the ignorance of others.
'
Our own ignorance is expressed in that we don
'
t know what we
don
t know. Sometimes we can have a sense that we are missing pieces
of the puzzle, but usually we don
'
t. There are always holes in our per-
ception, and these holes are strangers to us. The brain seldom has all
the information, although we really would like to have it. Like in the
old days in the African savanna, the more we understand the situation,
the higher our chances for survival. Our basic way to deal with these
holes is to fill them in ourselves with assumptions. We simply create an
explanation so that our story seems complete again (Dobelli, 2011).
But we have to realize that when two people miss the same piece of
information, each of them will fill it with her own assumption. It is
one of the main sources of misunderstandings.
'
We don
t know, and we integrate the elements that
we do know into the most obvious explanation.
'
t know what we don
'
