This was in Seth Godin’s blog last week. Thought you’d appreciate it, too.
“Assume lack of context: The person you’re working with might not know what you know, might not see what you see. It’s tempting to begin where we are. But it’s more useful to begin where they are.”
So true! And, yet, often we dive right in, expecting others to be in sync. They may see things quite differently through their own lens formed by their experiences. They may not have even heard what you think you said quite clearly. To find out where they are, ask open-ended questions with a willingness to hear something you don’t expect to hear.
