NAICC: The Common Sense Misconception, There’s Always Another Perspective
Written by Grant McMillan, president of NAICC.
Sometimes when an individual’s action creates a negative outcome within the workplace, a common response you’ll hear goes something like, “Why did they do that? Can’t they use their common sense?”
However, a fact often overlooked when discussing common sense is that one’s “common sense” stems from the reflection of one’s life experiences up to that point.
We leverage those previous experiences when we act on the situation at hand. If someone doesn’t have the experience to draw upon but others do, then of course it will look like it should have been common sense to the one who has the experience.
For example, in North America, we drive on the right-hand side of the road, and we learn that at a very young age. As we grow up, this becomes common sense to us because that is what we have experienced all of our lives. Now imagine someone from Europe moving to the U.S. and getting into a vehicle and going for a drive. Natural instinct would say to drive on the left-hand side of the road because that is what that person experienced until that point. If they did drive down the left side, then locals would question the action and say, “It’s common sense to drive on the right side of the road.” And that is the problem. What is common sense to one person may not mean the same thing to the next person.
Growing up on a farm, I was very fortunate to tag along with my grandfather, father and his coworkers as they did everyday farm chores and operations.
Often, I would be in the cab of the tractor while someone was operating it to plow a field, prepare a seedbed or plant or dig a potato crop. Although I was not physically operating the machine, I was observing how these operations were done properly, and I was observing the solutions implemented when a breakdown occurred or when a problem presented itself. Later in life when it came time for me to be the person operating equipment or growing crops for my work, I was able to leverage this experience to do the job correctly. Why? Because the task at hand was common sense to me. I had experienced it for most of my life.
As an industry, we need to be tapping into the talent of farm kids. However, we also need to be aware there’s talent elsewhere. For example, young people from urban settings may be eager to learn and thrive as consultants. From my hiring and training experience, the risk of losing this talent all begins when we let the negative shadow of the “common sense” assumption enter the equation. It confounds our perception of someone’s potential performance. Once we recognize this risk, then we can adapt and become better trainers.
Our industry is very diverse and constantly evolving. As such, everyone’s life experiences will be different within the workplace. The perception of “common sense” will also vary. Once we recognize this, only then can we unlock the potential of our staff.
