Is It Time for a Fresh Look at Your Assumptions?

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I don't know about you, but I bet you're not that different than me.  I regularly find myself surprised by divergent opinions about things that I assumed everyone would be on board with.  Just yesterday in a staff retreat virtually everyone at my table saw an idea from a completely different perspective than my senior pastor and me.  This morning I had an engaging conversation with a reader who sees the question in yesterday's post through a much different lens than I do.

Can you relate?

Perspective, point of view, and underlying assumptions all play such a key role in how we see the world; in how we see everything.

This morning I was reminded again how important it is that we regularly take a fresh look at our assumptions.  And when I think about assumptions, I always think about a challenging and scary set of findings in a study done by authors Matthew S. Olson, Derek van Bever, and Seth Verry (reported in When Growth Stalls, a really helpful article over at HBR).

Their most scary finding?

Assumptions that a team has held the longest or the most deeply are the most likely to be its undoing.

Their most challenging finding?

(In order to avoid a growth stall) Leaders must bring the underlying assumptions that drive company strategy into line with the changes in the external environment.

My takeaway:

It will always be a good idea to spend some quality time unearthing the assumptions that form the foundation of your ministry.  I've written about this many times.  Here are some of the articles:

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.