BIASED BLIND SPOT

As humans, we are all notoriously blind to our own imperfections. Additionally, we are normally completely blind to this blindness. We all have biases, unfortunately simply because we are aware of our potential for bias…does not eliminate our propensity to fall victim to these biases. This is not a new concept, but I believe worth revisiting.

We often believe that we are less susceptible to these biases than our peers. Perhaps a good example is that most of us would consider ourselves to be some degree above average in our individual professional vocations. Few of us (doctors, lawyers, mothers, fathers, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, pilots, etc.) would characterize ourselves as average. We would normally say that we are slightly above average. And almost no person would characterizethemselves as below average. Yet, we are all aware that statistically some must be below average. The realization that we may be below average in some competency is difficult to accept. And perhaps as interesting, when asked to quantify the competency of our respective peers, we often will identify some of our peers as below average in some professional competency. And it is likely that some of our peers would rate us as below average as well!

There is an old adage to be careful pointing your finger at others, because as you do so, there are three fingers pointing back at you. We are naturally biased to believe that we are perhaps a bit more competent than may bereality. And we can all be wildly overconfident in the accuracy of our knowledge. None of us is immune! There is another maxim which I find to be often true in my life, “the more I understand, the less I know”.

I believe that continuous education is a reasonable method to bring our true competency in line with our perceived competency. Take the opportunity to attend courses, read professional journals, participate in online courses.Continuing education is critical to our continued success!

As we seek to improve aviation safety, let's begin buy looking within ourselves...to improve ourselves, as the foundation for that success.

Bruce A. Webb

Airbus Helicopters Director of Aviation Education