Promoting a top performer into a training role often backfires. Sessions run long, questions multiply, and new hires still struggle with tasks the expert considers basic. The issue isn’t effort or personality—it’s how deep expertise changes the way people perceive and explain their work.
The Expert Blind Spot
A 1999 study by psychologist Pamela Hinds showed how expertise distorts teaching. Skilled salespeople consistently underestimated how long novices would take to learn cellphone tasks—by roughly half. Those with moderate experience, however, predicted learning times far more accurately. The pattern appeared across multiple experiments: the more someone knows, the worse they become at judging what a beginner needs.
This gap isn’t limited to sales. Education researchers Mitchell Nathan and Anthony Petrosino found the same effect in math teachers. Preservice instructors with strong math backgrounds routinely misjudged which parts of algebra problems would confuse students. They named it the “expert blind spot”—a tendency to structure lessons around the logic of a subject rather than the difficulties learners face.
In the workplace, this blind spot appears in training materials that read like highlight reels. A top sales rep might explain pricing objections through margin-and-value logic, but a trainee wants the exact words to say during a call. The mismatch leaves learners stuck, while experts wonder why the basics aren’t clicking.
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Automaticity contributes to the problem. As skills become second nature, experts bundle decisions into unconscious routines. Educational psychologist David Feldon, writing in Educational Psychologist in 2007, found that skilled practitioners often run complex tasks through automated mental routines, bundling multiple decisions into one fast, largely unconscious move. Teaching requires breaking those steps down—something experts rarely do without help.
How to Build Better Training with Experts
Learning and development teams can bridge the gap with simple changes. First, involve instructional designers early—before outlines are finalized. A fresh perspective catches assumptions experts no longer see. Second, ask experts to describe tasks in real time instead of explaining them afterward. This reveals decision points memory might skip. Third, test training with novices. Even one session shows which “obvious” steps still need explanation. Finally, don’t accept the first answer. Follow-up questions uncover knowledge experts rarely share.
Top performers aren’t always the best teachers. Their skill comes from years of turning complexity into instinct. Good training means breaking that complexity back into steps beginners can follow. Companies that add this translation to their processes create programs that work—and that matters, since so much institutional knowledge depends on a few key people.
Structured questioning helps experts build effective lessons by revealing hidden decision points.
