Supervisor Foundations · Lesson 6.3
FACTS BEFORE CONCLUSIONS
Conflict often creates assumptions.
Examples:
“She ignored me because she is jealous.”
“He did that because he wants my job.”
“She is disrespectful.”
“He is trying to make me look bad.”
Those may be interpretations.
Supervisors should separate:
FACTS
from
ASSUMPTIONS
A fact might be:
“The shift handover was not completed.”
An assumption might be:
“He did it because he does not respect me.”
Poor
“You clearly did that on purpose.”
Better
“The handover was not completed. Tell me what happened.”
WORKPLACE EXAMPLES
EXAMPLE 1
Fact: An employee left a meeting early.
Assumption: “She was angry.”
BETTER RESPONSE
EXAMPLE 2
Fact: One coworker did not reply to a message.
Assumption: “He was intentionally ignoring me.”
The employee may not have seen it.
EXAMPLE 3
Fact: A supervisor assigned someone a difficult task.
Assumption: “She is punishing me.”
There may be a legitimate operational reason.
EXAMPLE 4
Fact: Two employees raised their voices during a disagreement.
That behavior can be addressed without pretending to know their motives.
Remember
Describe what happened before deciding why it happened.
Workplace action
Replace: “They did it because…” with: “What evidence do I actually have?”
Quick Check
Which statement is a fact rather than an assumption?