Challenging Assumptions

Connect learning to your work

A practical place
to begin.

Give your first explanation a useful challenge

An initial explanation can become convincing simply because it was the first one offered. This Skill Lab helps you separate what was observed from what was inferred and consider another plausible account. The purpose is to improve the question you ask next, not to replace every decision with an endless search for alternatives.

In an illustrative scenario, a team receives fewer responses to a request than expected. The first explanation is that colleagues are not interested. List the observations that support that view and the information still missing. Could the request have reached the wrong people, lacked a clear deadline or asked for more effort than expected? Identify a practical way to check one possibility.

Test before acting on the story

Prepare a neutral question or a small review of available evidence. Decide in advance what finding would make you revise the explanation. Discuss how your first interpretation may have shaped the tone of the response you planned to send. After checking, choose the next action with a clearer account of what is known. This habit is useful in problem solving, collaboration and routine decisions where a confident story can otherwise outrun the evidence.

Topics to explore

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Professionals evaluating recommendations and everyday decisions

Bring a workplace situation you want to approach differently. We can discuss your experience, priorities and the support that would be useful before agreeing on delivery.

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