When we’re trying to communicate, we are usually holding assumptions: we assume that the other party knows concept, process, or ideas on the same level as we do. So we start communicating in our own way, the way that makes our life easy, conceptually. However, this easiness brings more difficulties to the communication.

It is why we prefer active listening, not simply nod or politely response to the content of communication, but we actively process what we hear and see, we are trying to validate our assumptions, assumptions that we hold about the other party seeing the things.

Before we talk about communication, let’s look into ourselves and see what’re the assumptions, and try to look these assumptions from the other people’s eyes.

I usually like someone say: please assume that I don’t know anything about this topic, then tell me what you know, or how do you look at this issue. If we are truly using this assumption, this preposition gives us a basic but solid start to the communication.

what’s your assumptions?