Have you ever made an assumption? Perhaps you didn’t give someone chance to finish what they were saying? Maybe you didn’t listen carefully in the first place? Perhaps the speaker paused, so you jumped in too quickly and completed his sentence?
Making assumptions creates difficulties in all our interactions and relationships. If you are constantly finishing other people’s sentences and jumping to conclusions about their ideas, the office dynamic is strongly affected. Others will stop including you in their meetings because they know you don’t pay attention anyway.
The key to stop making assumptions is to give full attention to the other person and understand exactly what he or she is saying first before adding your comments to the discussion.
Other things you can do are to be patient, to listen carefully, to rephrase what was said in your own words, and to pause and reflect first before speaking.
The best way to stop yourself making assumptions is to ask more questions.