One of the greatest impediments in successfully addressing customers' needs, is assumptions. Both yours and theirs.

If you act on false assumptions as though they're true, the outcome could at best be a side trip down the wrong path; at worst, it could be deadly, as was almost the case in a story I came across in the newspaper: The confusion began at 6:18 P.M. Monday, when the woman's landlord called 911, saying he had found her body in her basement apartment. Two technicians arrived within minutes and pronounced her dead at about 7 P.M. They notified the Medical Examiner's office, which sent an investigator, a doctor, who assumed the woman was dead because the technicians had said so. The investigator had been in the apartment for more than half an hour when he heard what sounded like a single faint breath .
. ." And needless to say, she was alive. So much for assumptions.

Stop it!

The best way to avoid the consequences of false assumptions is simple: Don't make any more assumptions. Ever.

Good advice? Certainly, if you ignore the fact that it's impossible to follow. You can't stop making assumptions. You make them all the time.

Fortunately, even if you can't stop making assumptions, you can become more aware of the fact that you're making them, and the more you realize you're making them, the more you can try to identify them and question them. If you work with customers, try asking yourself two questions at the start of every project:

• What assumptions am I making ... about this project ... about my role in it ... about what they (my customers, colleagues, whomever) expect of me ... about their understanding of what I'm doing ... about their perception of my role?
• What assumptions might they (my customers, colleagues, whomever) be making ... about this project, about their role in it, about my understanding of what they're doing ... about my perception of their role?
  Consider all assumptions

Of course, customers ought to ask themselves these same two questions. Here's a way that you and they together can make assumption-checking part of your problem-solving methodology: Step 1 is to do a CAF. This stands for Consider All Factors, and is a technique described in Edward de Bono's book de Bono's Thinking Course (ISBN 0-8160-1895-2). The CAF is an attention-stretching activity that helps ensure that you don't overlook essential aspects of a problem you're trying to solve.

An adaptation of this technique that you might want to try is this: Get together with your customers and brainstorm all the different factors that are or could be important to the success of the project. Take about 20 minutes and develop the longest possible list of all the different aspects, components, impacts, pieces and parts of the project that are important to any of you. Most groups identify 15 or 20 items in no time at all. Don't worry about whether your list is complete; no such list is ever complete.

In groups I've worked with on this technique, the lists have included such items as the identification of stakeholders, financial impact, training needs, customer notification, problem history, risks, implementation activities, workload implications, and division of responsibilities. This technique, by itself, may be an eye-opener; it almost always brings to light aspects of the project that might otherwise be overlooked.

Step 2 is to assumption-check the items on your list. For each item, try to identify assumptions you are each making about it. As you work through the list, you'll have the chance to identify your own and each other's false assumptions, and to resolve any critical conflicts in your viewpoints. No matter what's on your list, it provides an excellent focal point for discussing factors that are central to the success of the project.

Assumptions being what they are, you won't unearth every one of them, but each one that comes to light and receives attention is a step in the right direction. In the process, you and your customers will develop a much better shared vision of the entire project. At least I assume you will.

About the Author
Website: www.nkarten.com

Naomi Karten has always been fascinated by human behavior. Her background includes a B.A. and M.A. in psychology and extensive corporate experience in technical, customer support and management positions.

Since forming her own business in 1984, she has presented seminars and keynotes to more than 100,000 people internationally. Her services, books and newsletters have helped organizations and groups

• Manage customer expectations,
• Enhance their communications and consulting skills,
• Provide superior customer service, and
• Establish successful service level agreements.
• She is the author of several books including:

Communication Gaps and How to Close Them, which provides strategies and guidelines for improved communication in such contexts as building strong relationships, delivering superior service, fostering effective teamwork, and managing change

Managing Expectations: Working With People Who Want More, Better, Faster, Sooner, NOW!, which offers a serious, lighthearted look (yes, both!) at policies and practices for successfully managing expectations in the workplace

How to Establish Service Level Agreements, a handbook based on more than a decade of experience providing SLA consulting and seminars internationally and which is designed to help you avoid the flaws and failures she encounters so often

© Naomi Karten, www.nkarten.com