“To assume makes an ass of u and me.”

Wrong assumptions can lead to momentous misunderstandings, the need for last-minute costly corrections or even failure. In events planning this is particularly critical because we have a fixed deadline, the event date, and are working to a very tight schedule. These are some of our tips to avoid assumptions.

Years ago when I was working at a large IT company as an employee I learnt a very important lesson. One of my managers at the time shared one of her guiding principles with me which I have taken to heart and have made one of my guiding principles. It is:

“To assume makes an ass of u and me.”

What does this mean? It means that whenever we assume something, this may not be true and things can go wrong. And, of course, unexpectedly so. Because it never even dawned on us that someone would understand something differently from what we had understood. This can lead to momentous misunderstandings, late or costly corrections and even failure. It is embarrassing and can damage the reputation or career of both the sender, i.e. the person who sets a task and assumes the listener understands, and the listener, who assumes s/he knows what the sender meant without confirming.

In events planning this is particularly critical because we have a fixed deadline, the event date, and are working to a very tight schedule. So having to correct a wrong assumption can cause stress and unforeseen costs that we have not budgeted for. We just cannot deliver one day late or spend extra money. This is why getting it right not through assumptions but through certainty is paramount.

So what can cause wrong assumptions?

Ambiguous or too little communication: This is probably the most common cause for assumptions. If we do not define and communicate very clearly what needs to be done, by whom and by when, it is easy for everyone in the game to interpret things differently and do something that wasn’t wanted by the client.

Taking things for granted: We have learnt how to do things in a particular way and therefore often miss that they can be done in a different way. What may be obvious or self-evident for one client and is therefore not mentioned, may be completely different for another. This is even more valid if you work in an international, multi-cultural environment.

Working with inexperienced people: There are two risks here: We may think that a task is easier or quicker than it really is and assign it to an untrained or non-professional person. Or, we assume that what we know is common knowledge, and forget that people with no or a lot less experience do not have the same expertise. In both cases things can easily take too long or go wrong.

Unclear roles and responsibilities: Events are always the work of a team and their success depends on many people working hand in hand, where each and everyone knows exactly what to do and what is done by the other team members. If roles and responsibilities are unclear we risk that tasks are done twice by different people or not at all, because it is assumed that someone else covers that task.

Unclear task assignments: This is related to the previous point but goes one level further. Even if you have defined roles and responsibilities often a task can be broken down to several sub-tasks. Depending on the client and the event the same sub-task may be done by the client themselves or by the event manager and their team. It is therefore important to define exactly who does what to what level.

Changes: In the course of an event project it is not uncommon that changes come up and the client has new or different requirements. It is probably easy to make that one change. But what about all the implications that often go far beyond the obvious? These are often forgotten because it is assumed they happen “automatically”, which, of course, they don’t. They need to be recognized and taken care of.

Any of these issues can occur between the client (in-house or external) and the event manager as well as between the event manager and their team or suppliers. I’m sure there are many more but I think you get the point.

To avoid wrong assumptions here are some tips:

– Hold regular team meetings or calls with the client.

– Be clear in your communication.

– Define clear roles, responsibilities and tasks.

– Ask questions. Even if something seems obvious, that one “stupid” question may not be so stupid after all and save you a lot of stress.

– Get confirmations.

– Check, check and check again.

In summary:

Avoiding wrong assumptions altogether is not easy and we learn from new experiences all the time. After all, we often make the right assumption and may not even be aware of the fact that we are making an assumption.

The most we can do is remind ourselves of the risk of wrong assumptions and ask too many rather than too few questions.