Assumptions that Are Traps for Managers
By Lana J. Chandler
“If a manager assumes that someone is ‘just lazy,’ for example, then everything that employee does is labeled as that,” points out Bobbi Kahler, president of Kahler Leadership Group (Evergreen, Colorado). “The risk is that there is some barrier to performance that, because we are making an assumption about the motivation behind the action we can see, we will never diagnose and remove the barrier.”
As humans, we are wired to make judgments about what we observe. We see an action/behavior and we ascribe motivation and judgment to it. So what happens? We make assumptions about behaviors that we’ve seen in the past. Usually, this serves us well. You walk down a dark street and you see someone suspicious walking towards you, so you cross the street. But when it comes to managing your team, assumptions can prevent you from effectively identifying and correcting performance issues.
“If an employee doesn’t readily accept advice, the assumption is often made that the employee is defensive or isn’t coachable. Maybe. What if, however, the employee has tried that very same advice in the past and it didn’t work for them? Or what if they are resisting the way that you delivered the advice?” Kahler says. “So the trap is really seeing a behavior and ascribing judgment, meaning and motivation to it, instead of exploring the behavior.”
To avoid the “assumption trap,” Kahler offers these tips:
- Use curiosity. How can you explore the behavior?
- Test your own assumptions. What if there is a different cause or factor involved? Is it really the way you see it (including the judgments attached to it) or are you making certain assumptions about it?
- Assume positive intent. This can be huge! What if the person is actually doing the very best that they can at the present time? This is a huge framework in coaching. “Thomas Leonard, the founder of CoachVille, said that the coach has to believe that the coachee is doing the very best they can, even when it is clear that they are not. This one thing can really change things,” says Kahler.
