In almost every company you’ll find specialists. People with 20, 30, 40 years of experience. People who know everything, who have seen everything, who have a solution for every problem. Ideally, you want these specialists to train your new employees. But it doesn’t always go well.
A few years ago, I attended a seminar on asset management. In that field you learn how to ensure that technical assets: large, capital‑intensive installations perform well throughout their entire life cycle. A complex discipline.
There were participants from business and the military. An interesting mix of specialists. Army green, Navy blue, Air Force blue, business‑suit blue… and a few other professional colours.
We discussed what kind of employees you need to perform this work well.
A heated discussion broke out. A high‑ranking Air Force officer—who had clearly had enough of the debate gave the ultimate answer. “Listen,” he said, “you either see the picture or you don’t. And if you don’t see it, you’re never going to see it.”
He had a point. A specialist sees things that a novice simply doesn’t. But that insight does not help when you need to train new people.
Why is specialist knowledge so difficult to transfer? Psychologist Daniel Kahneman (Nobel Prize winner) helps us understand and solve this.
In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow he explains how the human mind works.
He distinguishes between System 1 and System 2.
System 1 is our fast, intuitive and uncontrolled thinking. It’s the basis of our everyday thinking and actions. We use System 1 to walk, to calculate 2×2, to operate an installation routinely.
System 2 is our conscious, slow, rational thinking. We use System 2 to learn electrical engineering, to learn the Foxtrot, or to solve a difficult malfunction in an installation.
Most complex knowledge is first learned through System 2. For specialists, this knowledge then sinks downward into System 1. Through intensive practice and repetition, it becomes unconscious and automated knowledge.
As a result, specialists often no longer know what they know. Their knowledge lives mostly in System 1.
And that’s why they often struggle to transfer this knowledge. Because transferring knowledge must happen through System 2.
To help a specialist transfer their knowledge, you have to bring that knowledge back up from System 1 into System 2. That means making it explicit, structuring it, identifying gaps that feel “obvious,” and creating clear connections.
How to do this using a practical, structured approach is described in our whitepaper on training. Want to start improving how specialists train others? Take the first step and download our whitepaper on training here.
Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow is an absolute must‑read if you’re interested in how people think and learn. It is easy to read and full of fascinating insights and anecdotes. Highly recommended!
Best regards, Peter van Bart
info@eluxis.com
LinkedIn: Peter van Bart
