From the course: The Manager's Guide to Difficult Conversations
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Replace assumptions with curiosity
From the course: The Manager's Guide to Difficult Conversations
Replace assumptions with curiosity
- Some time ago, when I was an employee, my supervisor scheduled me for overtime that I didn't want, and when I approached my supervisor, he said, "I assumed you wanted the money." He didn't know I had plans for the weekend. I assumed he had looked at my vacation request. He hadn't. We both assumed the other was hard to work with. In fact, we were certain of it. But an assumption is when you're certain of something that may or may not be true. Sometimes you'll want to challenge your assumptions and use curiosity to start a conversation. Let's talk about that now. Suppose your employee, Perul, isn't documenting correctly, so you assume that Perul is sloppy and you're certain she's trying to cut corners. Did you notice the assumptions about Perul included performance and motive? When you feel strong emotions, you've probably made an assumption about motive. And when the assumption is about performance or motive, challenge…
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