Assumption and Anxieties, the two A’s. That was the meat of the video (Tavistock Institute, 2014)- it took a while to get there, but it seems that much of what you’re doing as an OD consultant is constantly considering the assumptions that have been made and the initial anxieties that come up as a newcomer, as someone who’s been in the organization for years and believes what they’ve always done is the best way about it.

Assumptions are ingrained in the culture. The way we move and react to things is based on what we’ve learned over time. I recently had a conversation with my husband of thirteen years about why he always puts my keys in a certain spot, and he said, “because that’s where you like them.” I replied, “No, it’s just that I usually find them there when I can’t find them here, which is where I always put them.” So, this tiny little thing that’s been grating my nerves for years has been done because he thought that was my preference. He made an assumption that that’s where I wanted the keys and it’s led to some pretty late mornings as I’ve had to hunt the house looking for them.

My point is that assumptions can make or break our day, they can cause us to do things, without really knowing why, and can have dramatic ripple effects. But the longer and assumption last, the more like an unspoken law that it becomes. It’s this thing that is blindly done without question.

Then, when our assumptions are challenged, when we’re asked why we do things the way we do and our response is along the lines of “because we’ve always done it that way” then we can feel exposed because it’s not a strong answer. We become defensive and dig in our heels and start to resist.

And that opens up the fear gate. The part of us that is afraid to take risks, to try something new. The video touches on this at the end. Dr. M mentions anxieties that come up for both the consultant and the employee. The consultant is afraid of asking the wrong question, following the wrong information thread, meanwhile, the employee of the organization is looking to the outsider thinking, “what does she know? She doesn’t know this place or my role, or my contributions, and she’s going to say that they’re bad for the organization.” And that’s when the fences start to go up and things become more complicated.

In this video (Tavistock Institute, 2014) believing assumptions were real, and allowing anxieties play out may have been the reason that it took two years to discover the root of the problem.

I met with an OD practitioner the other day who told me something so obvious, it stopped me in my tracks. I stopped listening to what he was saying because his statement was so obvious and yet, I’d never heard it spoken as simply before. He said that when he’s interviewing and organization he is truly curious. He believes that everyone is doing their best and wants to know what they’re doing and how it’s received. He said that by leading with curiosity he has found tremendous success in the way that people will open up to him because people want to teach him about their ways of doing things. Curiosity also allows him to calm his nerves in new situations and with new clients. By always being curious, he allows himself to be vulnerable and show that he doesn’t know all of the answers, that he’s not there to judge or make directives, he’s there to learn.

That trait of curiosity is something that I hope to bring to my work, I love to learn, and what better way of learning than being curious? And what better way to learn about people and take down their walls than by asking questions? And as soon as people start talking and teaching, they are engaging, and from that engagement, anything can happen.

Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (2014, July 3) Organisational Diagnosis [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/y-vn9CE2sow