In the title essay to this blog, “Don’t Leave Rocks on the Pavement,” I described how my time living and working in Mexico opened my eyes to a range of assumptions I make every day. Anyone who knows me, or has been subjected to my energy on this topic, knows that I believe at the root of pretty much every bad thing in the world today are unarticulated and untested assumptions. OK, maybe that’s a bit of hyperbole, but it’s an important topic. So before I go much further, let me not assume that you know what I mean when I talk about assumptions.
The definition of an assumption is “a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof” (Oxford). Assumptions are not, in and of themselves, bad things. What trips us up is that pesky “without proof” part of the definition. We have to make loads of little assumptions to get through each day. Most of them prove to be valid because we’ve either seen the situation before or have been told something is true. When so many of the little assumptions you make are either true or the consequences of being wrong are not visible, you are rarely even aware that you are making an assumption. So, when one of them turns out not to be valid, the result can be a significant misunderstanding that can lead to even worse consequences.
The example I gave in my first essay was about a cultural assumption: I did not believe that leaving rocks on the pavement was a big enough problem to require a road sign every few kilometers. The result of that invalid assumption was my embarrassment at insulting my host. However, the impact of untested assumptions can sometimes be physically dangerous as well. Let me tell you another story.
San Juan del Rio, the pueblo in Central Mexico that I lived in, has been around since the 1500’s so there are quite a number of passageways too narrow for two cars. One of those was on my way to the manufacturing plant where I worked. The first time I was taken to the plant, we approached that narrow tunnel at the same time as a car coming in the other direction. The other car flashed their lights and we stopped. Had I been driving, I would have continued to plow forward. The custom in the U.S., the custom my father taught me when I learned to drive and the custom that held up where ever in the U.S. I drove, was that the car that flashed their lights was signaling for the other car to go first. Fortunately, I was not the one driving. Just as I was about to question why we were waiting, the other car came through. It never occurred to me that in Mexico, the custom is that the car flashing their lights goes first! Another invalid assumption, one that would have ended in a head-on collision if I had been behind the wheel!
These are just a couple of small examples around cultural norms, but we make all kinds of assumptions in our daily lives. For example, there are language interpretation assumptions, such as the meaning of a word or phrase, or even the definition of an acronym. I remember one really confusing conversation with a marketing team where one group was using the acronym PSA to mean “pressure sensitive adhesive” and the other group was interpreting PSA to mean “public service announcement”. You would be surprised how long it took us to figure that out!
Then there are body language assumptions, either the meaning of a gesture (be careful in which countries you make the thumbs up or “OK” gestures!) or the meaning of a body posture. And this is not just confusing between countries and cultures. Folks in your neighborhood can mean very different things by their body language or tone. It is natural to project the meaning you would use to explain an expression or gesture even when it comes from someone else, but that is certainly not always correct.
Additionally, there are assumptions we make about a person’s education or intelligence or maturity or honesty, based on how they look or dress or talk. I am forever impressed by people who speak English as a second language with any reasonable fluency. I never got past the fluency of a native third grader in Mexican Spanish, but it was my vocabulary that was limited, not my intelligence. How many times have you assumed that a new English speaker was not very intelligent simply because they hadn’t yet learned the words or grammar to better express their thoughts?
Unarticulated and untested assumptions run rampant in the workplace and not just related to how people interact with each other. I firmly believe that the reason so many outstanding business plans fail in execution is connected to the different assumptions operating and planning personnel apply to the same terms. As I began to tease this concept of assumptions apart, I began to ask a lot more questions. For example, what do you mean by “marketing”? One time, when I was negotiating for more “marketing” support, I failed to ask that question early in the process. When I was asking for marketing support, I meant market research. The person I was negotiating with was offering marketing communications. Two very different aspects of “marketing”! I also found that job titles carry assumptions, based on your experience. The title of “Specialist” in some companies is the very top of the technical ladder. In others, it is used for entry level positions. Made for some very awkward job offer discussions! Believe me, I could go on.
Clearly, you have to “pick your battles” because questioning every assumption will wear you out. And I certainly continue to make embarrassing mistakes! However, you can stay attuned to when you might be falling into an assumption trap. I encourage you to start asking yourself if you are making a judgement based on an untested assumption. Does something sound ridiculous to you? It may be because it clashes with an assumption you’ve made—one you haven’t tested in that situation. Slow down. Ask more questions. Get others to articulate what they mean. “Different” doesn’t have to mean wrong. In fact, sometimes “different” can be better. And that’s the real richness of testing your assumptions.
