The mind is a labyrinth of knowledge – a maze with many twists, turns, joins, splits, tunnels, bridges, crevasses and caverns.
Some paths lead to dead ends; others take a long way around but get to the destination in the end.
The shortest path is not obvious – even in hindsight.
And there is another challenge … no two individuals share the same knowledge labyrinth. An obvious path between problem and solution for one person may be invisible or incomprehensible to another.
But the greatest challenge, and the greatest opportunity, is that our labyrinth of knowledge can change and does change continuously … through learning.
So if one person can see a path of improvement between current problem and future solution, then how can they guide another who cannot?
This is a challenge that an Improvement Scientist faces every day.
It is not effective to just give a list of instructions – “To get from problem to solution follow this path“. The path may not exist in the recipients knowledge labyrinth. If they just follow the instructions they will come up against a wall or fall into a hole.
It is not realistic to expect the learner to replace their labyrinth of knowledge with that of the teacher – to clone the teachers way of thinking. Just reciting the Words of the Guru is not improvement – is Zealotry.
One way is for a guide to describe their own labyrinth of knowledge. To lay it out in a way that any other can explore. A way that is fully signposted, with explanations and maps that that the explorer can refer to as they go. A template against which they can compare their own knowledge labyrinth to reveal the similarities and the differences.
No two people will explore a knowledge labyrinth in the same way … but that does not matter. So long as they are able to uncover and assumptions that misguide them and any gaps in their knowledge block their progress. With that feedback they can update their own mental signposts and create safe, effective and efficient paths that they can follow in future at will.
And that is how the online FISH training is designed. It is the knowledge labyrinth of an experienced Improvement Scientist that can be explored online.
And it keeps changing …