The 'curse of knowledge': why experts explain poorly
Why is an instruction clear to its author but obscure to the team? The curse of knowledge explains it.
The measured bias
Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein and Martin Weber (1989, Journal of Political Economy) show better-informed participants cannot ignore their information when predicting less-informed people's judgements.
Among experts
Pamela Hinds (1999, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied) finds experts underestimate novices' task time, and simple debiasing only partly helps.
The nuance
It is not a lack of goodwill; it persists even when known. (our executive and employee training programmes)
The limit of common practice
Rereading your own instructions to check clarity.
A practical check in Neuchâtel
Before sending an important instruction, ask someone outside the topic to rephrase it in one sentence; rewrite if it diverges. To go further: explore the Communication training in Neuchâtel, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
In pictures: Communication in Neuchâtel
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