This is my first contribution to the mailing list. I have been reading with
interest all that has transpired over the last several months and greatly
appreciate all the excellent input. The latest conversation on Emergency Talk
has been excellent.
I have been developing CRM for Frontier in Denver since December 95 and find our
pilots and flight attendants very receptive and great to work with.
One of the fun exercises I like to do during indoctrination comes from a
childhood game called "Brain Teasers". It shows how easily we as humans make
assumptions about what we perceive. It comes in the form of a riddle for them
to ask questions about. I can only answer " yes , no, or irrelevant" to their
questions. This involves "Inquiry" on their part and "Incomplete Communication"
on my part from the beginning. So here it goes.
"Tom and Mary" Tom is asleep on the couch and Mary is lying on the floor, dead.
There is broken glass and water on the floor. What happened?
As the group asks their questions the "Mental Model" slowly changes in
everyone's mind from their original picture, as the process takes place. Each
person has a unique view of the situation depending on my answer to each
question from the group. Every question and answer adds a different "picture", (
perception vs reality ). There are as many perceptions of the situation, as you
have people in the class. Eventually the class through "Teamwork" and "Inquiry"
solves the mystery of the "Reality of the Situation". Tom is a cat and Mary is
a fish. Tom accidently knocked the fish bowl onto the floor on his way to his
nap on the couch. (Someone usually asks why Tom didn't eat the fish). It is
amazing to watch the process take place and then to see the "lightbulb" come on
when they figure out the "Reality of the Situation".
You have to tell them how naturally we assume certain things when the
"communication" or message is incomplete from the beginning and how long it
takes to resolve the "Ambiguity". ( Precious time in an aircraft on arrival ).
If I told them,"Tom is a cat asleep on the couch and Mary is a dead fish on the
floor. There is broken glass and water on the floor. What happened"?, they
would not have any trouble at all. But I purposely left out some important
details. They can see what happens when we accidently leave out important
details when communicating. I tell them that I knew the situation all the time,
why didn't they? Then I say how easily I can assume that they got the right
message the first time.
There are lots of "Brain Teasers" to choose from varying in difficulty and
sometimes after class at the local watering hole is a better place, than to take
up too much class time by doing more than one. It's also fun to have one of the
students know the answer to the riddle and answer the questions form the class
instead of me.
If you want more of these Brain Teasers, "Situations", send me an E-mail and I
will send them to you.
Captain David L. Bair
Frontier Airlines
76632.320_at_CompuServe.com