Eliminate Surprises Before They Happen
John Fildes
3 Minute Read | Comment on LinkedIn
Eliminate surprises to standout as someone who is organized and in control
Top executives don’t like surprises. Especially when the surprise is an issue could have been avoided. That’s way it’s important that you eliminate surprises in your work. In addition to increasing your growth trajectory in your organization, avoiding surprises makes you stand out as someone who is organized and in control.
Focusing on these three areas will help you mitigate surprises and risk of issues.
Stay In Front of Potential Surprises
Mitigating surprises requires you stay in front of potential threats so you can proactively work to navigate an issue before it happens. Intuition is an important leadership quality to work on when developing yourself. Intuition is the foundation of being able to spot issues before they happen. Thoughtfully planning, iterating, and refining strategy and execution is a second way to stay out in front. Reflecting often and continuously learning from your successes and mistakes keeps a pulse on the state of play. Learning, applying, and refining plans keeps the work on target and stakeholders calm and confident in you.
Rapidly Resolve The Unexpected
While it’s important to stay out in front, it’s realistic to believe some unexpected challenges will arise. You will not be able to be perfect all the time. Instead of panicking or becoming frustrated when they do happen, it’s important you avoid reacting emotionally or negatively. What is most import it to stay focused on achieving a timely resolution. Staying level headed enables you to more rapidly reach resolution and bolsters other’s perception that you are in control.
Keep Your Boss Informed
Frequent communication keeps your boss informed about lurking threats. Making your boss aware of anticipated challenges prepares them if one does occur. Transparent communication grows their confidence in you and demonstrates your ability to anticipate and navigate threats. Reinforcing the message that you have it under control, combined with calm, level headed, confident delivery of message is important. In the case an issue does arise, your boss will be less reactive as well and quickly get behind your plan for resolution.
No one likes surprises so it’s important you eliminate them before they happen. Staying in front of challenges helps you proactively anticipate and navigate obstacles. While it’s not possible to avoid every issue, responding calmly and confidently achieves timely resolution and bolsters other’s perception of you as being accountable and reliable. Frequently communicating issues on the horizon and issues that you’re effectively mitigating further strengthens your position as a leader in the organization.
Ask Yourself These Questions
- How strong is my ability to anticipate challenges?
- What can I do in my day-to-day to effectively stay in front of challenges?
- How often should I review, reflect, and revise plans?
- What tools can I leverage to stay calm when unexpected issues arise?
- How often should I discuss potential threats with my boss?
About John Fildes
I grow the bottom line by connecting marketing to business strategy. By leveraging powerful positioning, content marketing, and client insights, I help CEOs drive qualitative and quantitative results at scale.
I've built an amazing network of incredibly talented people over the years. What I've appreciated most is those who have invested in me, mentored me, and helped me become the talented professional I am today. I pay it forward by doing the same for other high performing professionals and entrepreneurs.
Learn More: Marketing Leader | Experienced Entrepreneur | Trusted Mentor
All views are my own and not those of my current or prior employers.
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What tools have helped you mitigate risk and surprises in your organization?
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Eliminate surprises to demonstrate intuition via @JohnFildes https://t.co/q2OXeWI34e #marketing #leadership #mentor pic.twitter.com/rv3tnUApz1
— John Fildes (@JohnFildes) January 16, 2016
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