"Making an Ass Out of U and Me"

Last week, I waited 2 whole days for an important phone call that never came.

As the hours wore on, and the promised phone call didn't materialise, I convinced myself that my prospective client had changed his mind, got cold feet, or that the arrangement wasn't that good anyway.

On day 3, the call came from my client to say that he had gone down with a sudden bout of late winter flu and had been too ill to get a message to me.

The deal was back on and I felt suitably ashamed.

On the Communications courses that we run at ManageTrainLearn, we invariably end up at some point discussing the dangers of expectations and assumptions when communications break down.

On one course, I well remember hearing how a young manager paid a heavy price for making a wrong assumption.

He had applied for his dream job, got through the first rounds, and was sitting in the interview room along with 7 impressive-looking and impressive-sounding other candidates.

When he went in to the interview room, he performed out of his socks and was duly asked what salary he wanted. Fearing that he might outprice himself and let one of the other candidates in, he said he would take what was on offer.

He was duly awarded the job.

Just after starting, he met with his boss and mentioned how fortunate he felt about being offered the job against such strong competition.

"Oh, no", said his boss. "Those others weren't in for your job. They were there for another one. You were the only candidate. We were delighted to get you for what you wanted."

My friend, trainer Jen Ellis, says that when we assume things, we make an "ass" out of "u" and "me".

And that's how I felt about my assumptions about my client.

So, this week, when things don't add up, or go as planned, or there are bits missing from the picture, I won't jump to conclusions or worst-case scenarios. I'll simply suspend judgment, keep an open mind, and let whatever happens, happen.