I sit at the center of significant change. The position is not one directly related to me. The change relates to the position, not the person. We are trying to build new capabilities. We are working to become something we are not today. We are trying to take on more business than we can imagine. We are trying to do many things!
As is the way with this kind of chaos, many people are trying to make a different. Planning, management, and analysis are just the beginning. Two threads span each person’s intent. First, people want to win. There is a tangible sense of community and purpose. While the immediate path may not be clear, people want to get to the goal.
Second, in order to move on, assumptions are being made. There are many reasons for this. There are too many moving parts for any single group or individual to comprehend. The timing of one group’s deliverables needed by another is different. Even if both try to stay coordinated, it is difficult. Given the multiple layers of dependency, assumptions must be made.
The question I find myself wrestling with is direct. Are the assumptions valid?
One writer described how the wrong conclusions could be drawn. “What had happened was that they had seen Paul and Trophimus, the Ephesian Greek, walking together in the city and had just assumed that he had also taken him to the Temple and shown him around.” (Acts 21.29)
What happened then is replaying in an endless loop. I am reminding myself that the following was true then and now.
Making assumptions is not good or bad. Life often demands that we make them.
Accepting assumptions blindly, especially from one generation to another, is never the answer. Assumptions should be deconstructed, examined, and selectively embraced as one’s own.
Building a foundation is a reflective process. Never presume one’s assumptions are strong enough to be the cornerstone.
As I work through our assumptions, the strength of the community is naturally tested. We are family, even when it does not seem like it.
