I had a call scheduled for this afternoon at 1:30.  I’m in Texas, and the person who scheduled the call isn’t.  I’m certain she knows where I am, because the sole purpose of the call is to discuss my current location.

99 times out of 100 I verify time zone when scheduling meetings and calls.  In the world of global business it’s a necessity.  This time I didn’t because I assumed the issue was understood.  1:30 came and went and the phone didn’t ring. Our collaborative quotient plunged dangerously close to zero.

George Bernard Shaw once said that “The greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.” Isn’t that the truth?

It’s been noted repeatedly that collaborative success is greatly enhanced when all of the underlying assumptions are addressed early on in the engagement. Let this serve as a lesson to us. If an assumption is important to the outcome, address it - even if the data in question seems obvious.

Has something like this ever happened to you?