The team looked dejected. They had worked hard for six weeks and now it appeared they would miss their deadline. They were missing one critical element that was being supplied by a vendor. That vendor had just called to say the shipment would be delayed by 24 hours. The customer wanted to start on Monday and could move on with another team if we couldn’t deliver.

“Check it out,” I said. “You all look depressed. Snap out of it. You are making assumptions based on a number of unknown factors. Check it out. Get on the phone and see what could be done.”

Twenty minutes later, the team was back in full swing. The vendor was able to break the shipment and overnight enough material to meet the deadline. The customer had reviewed the proposal with the partial shipment and approved the plan.

When things look bad, check out the facts, don’t rely on assumptions. Your assumptions could be incorrect. Relying on the unknown conjures up self doubt, hesitation and inaction. Working with facts moves you to positive action based on reality. Check out the facts. -TF