There are many demands on every leader. Finding ways to spend their time most effectively. The skills they need to be the best they can. And just as importantly appreciating what they love to do. Blending these all together to become a leader of others is a daunting challenge, offset by the wonders of enabling the growth and development of the people you lead.
And, delivering results too, of course!
You need all the help you can get, through every single one of those good people in your team.
We all come to the present with a set of assumptions that get us safely to where we want to be. We assume something that’s on the stove might be hot; that a heavy truck hurtling our way will hurt if it hits us. That something that looks like a lemon will taste sour in our mouth. We have to make assumptions to get by, in order to survive.
Never assume
It makes an ‘ass’ of you
And an ‘ass’ of me
Assumptions can be tricky too. For whilst we base our decisions on what we think is best, we can fall short when it comes to overlaying those assumptions on the people around us. Even people very close to us will behave – at least occasionally – in ways which we see differently than they are meant.
As a leader of people, you will make assumptions about them even before you meet them.
They were on that project. Hmmm.
They worked for him. Really?
They haven’t had experience in this? Nooo!
A small selection of the impressions you will take with you, even the first time you meet them. These assumptions – like a newly boiled kettle likely being hot – are either based on experience or may be formed from the impression someone has given us about an experience we haven’t had personally, and would be wise to be aware of. That truck might never hit us, but the tone, volume and content of the words of our parents in a moment of fear for us, leads us to believe it will hurt, at the very least.
With people, we make the best of the evidence we have before us. We often make initial judgements based on the words and actions of others and then make assumptions. It’s the way it has to be to start with, for our natural instinct prepares us for the interaction, primarily to protect us.
And often that can get in the way.
For the assumptions we make can colour the way we behave both outwardly, and how we internalise that person, making their behaviours fit our expectations. Even to the point where, for example, if they look like someone we may have had a difficult experience with; or share the name of a person who did not treat us well, our assumptions will, subconsciously, lead to biases we don’t even notice.
As a leader, we must take steps to avoid the pitfall of assumptions, for they can rob us of employees’ capabilities we urgently need to deliver the exceptions placed on us. A full team on full speed ahead is required in the hectic world we work in. So, a particular skill of the best leaders is to be acutely aware of the assumptions they make based on perceived evidence and test rigorously whether they are valid or not. This act of self-awareness and caution is a trait that can be developed, even when it is not a natural talent for an individual leader.
Simply noticing occasions you behave in a way that makes assumptions of another, will lead to strategies which will investigate your own assumptions and biases to check whether there is anything in them.
“Why did I think that of them?”
“What actual evidence do I have?”
“How can I test what I think?”
Leaders who develop the skill of assuming nothing, but testing through their own observation and real experience of an individual, will then be able to flex their own strategies of working them to get the best from them. By really understanding others, you can best manage yourself to get add value to your team, even when you didn’t see it there at first.
Far better this than labelling; boxing or pigeonholing people and leaving them as outsiders, when everyone you have has a rich potential to mine. Both for their developmental benefit, and the performance of your team too.
After all, you need all the talented people you can get.
Previously published on LinkedIn
