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The Ongoing Leader: Meeting Needs Not Assumptions

Submitted by James Higginbotham on May 19, 2009 – 5:06 amNo Comment

The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the past 12 years of launching startups is to never lead by assumption. It sounds easy, but how often have you assumed a volunteer was scheduled for an event but didn’t show due to a miscommunication? Or, perhaps you spent weeks or months building a website only to realize that it didn’t solve the top three issues the church was facing in their online presence?

To assume not only “make [something] out of you and me”, it can have an ongoing negative impact on your team. We all know that mistakes happen, but mistakes should be a result of missing the center of the target rather than missing the target completely.

Rather than making an assumption, focus on the needs of others. How do you know their needs? Listen. Ask questions. Show progress. Get feedback constantly. Adjust as needed.

What kind of assumptions are you making today that you need to revisit?

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