To avoid conflict, treat an assumption as a hunch
There is nothing worse than a bad fact. I heard that on a podcast recently about economics. Isn't that interesting? And I thought that is exactly like conflict resolution is that oftentimes people treat assumptions as facts.
And then sometimes we end up getting bad facts all tied up into the mix, which creates a sucking vortex of pissed off. So what do you do? Well, I am stealing a page out of my dear friend Jeanette Nyden’s gamebook. And Jeanette will say that you have to be able to distinguish an assumption from a hunch. Now, Jeanette will tell you that oftentimes people make assumptions and treat them like facts, which is exactly a bad fact.
However, if you have a hunch, a hunch means I'm curious, a hunch means I need to ask some questions, versus an assumption where I'm assuming that this is true, this is accurate. This is right. This is righteous.
I would suggest maybe coming into conversations and say, I've got a hunch. I've got a hunch that this thing happened. I've got a hunch that this is the result. And rather than working on treating assumptions as facts, and getting bad facts, you have a hunch, because hunches cue you to ask questions.
And we go from hunches that are exploratory, that are verifying information, verifying priorities, and avoiding conflict. So, avoid bad facts by treating assumptions, not like assumptions, but as hunches.
Follow your hunch. Ask questions. Avoid conflict.
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