What's the value of assumptions?

Well if you are reading this then my assumption that it is of interest to you was correct, but if I had assumed that everyone who has seen my post would click on it to come to this page then that is quite frankly delusional.

But sometimes that’s exactly what we do, we can expect too much from an idea or opportunity, in fact can blindly invest so much time, pressure and energy in to it that we cannot see it failing or has no chance to match anything like our expectation, sometimes we have such a strong determination to prove an assumption to be right that we can become blinded to common sense.

Sometimes our motivation to make assumptions comes from succeeding with one or two so should we make all our decisions based on an assumption? Well there is nothing stopping us of course but in the long run can these assumptions sustain our business and the answer is “It depends on how we assume” (I know, not helpful).

What do I mean, well an assumption is something that you accept as true without question or proof, this often leads to misunderstandings and miscommunication because they are based on incomplete information or based on personal biases rather than facts resulting in incorrect conclusions which can damage relationships, projects or, in extreme situations, businesses as people may act on these false beliefs without verifying the truth.

Here are a couple of examples that I have personally witnessed;

• A company employed someone to manage their accounts assuming they understood accounts, which was proved they did not. The outcome was the company thought they were making a £35,000 profit when in fact made a £35,000 loss, net result they over committed expenditure and the company failed.

• An inventor launched a new product, went to a large retail company with their pitch, had some great feedback, the promise of an order, with this they put their house up as collateral for a loan to get the product made. The upshot was they actually did not have the order as when checked further, the buyer had even left the company, there was no order. Result they had to sell the stock for peanuts, close the company and work in multiple jobs to pay off the loan to save the house.

We often make assumptions because we seek to just get on with it, seize the opportunity, strike while the iron is hot in the name of success, achieving, efficiency, denial or worse, deliberate miss direction.

Finding the evidence to support a position can be time consuming we think but, we need to be careful, good assumptions need as much relevant information as possible and to challenge your initial thoughts by seeking clarification and feedback from others to help ensure that your assumptions are based on facts rather than unfounded beliefs, ego or simply blind passion.

It is always worth testing and verifying an assumption before acting on that assumption.