Avoid surprises, both good and bad, by having a policy of always knowing what is coming in your business. Keep a Bad Surprise list and be aware that good surprises denote uninformed leadership, says Mario Pretorius in his latest tip to corporate management. GK
Hate all surprises, even the good ones. Anticipate events, plan around them.
Testosterone and cortisol enhance and destroy the lives of those under stress. Surprises are one of those unwanted spikes that usually spike the heart-affecting baddies.
The risk list is an unheralded tool. It should be updated often, and with different people in the organization. This is the Bad Surprise list, where no contingency exists, chaos may ensue and your carefully created seamless mantra of Great Leader may be shredded in a moment if you cannot pull the proverbial rabbit from the headgear.
We took electricity supply for granted in South Africa; it was on no-one’s risk list. Six years of intermittent supply at times made us appreciate the up days more. Still there are now not only generators, but also pc profile back-ups of every user just in case the office is burgled and cleaned out. Everyone can be up and running within the hour as the financing line has been pre-approved to purchase new laptops plus software and all profiles will be pushed from the remote cloud location, including email profiles.
The list carries on. Which clients, if unhappy, will dent the reputation or worse, the cash flow? Manage the surprise. Which employees, if head-hunted, will take undocumented IP along? What are the doomsday scenarios – are the plans in place and have these plans been tested? IRS raid that leaves with the server ‘for evidence’? Competitor alleging criminal intent? Death or sudden disability in key positions?
Good surprises denote uninformed leadership or worse, unmanaged expectations. What’s the best news expected this week? How can it be a surprise then? Make it a policy of knowing what’s coming, that’s the way to keep the testosterone levels high and unimpeded, like you intended to.
This tip is an extract from the manuscript of “The Unconventional CEO: Common sense outside of conventional Management thinking” (by Mario Pretorius).
