Channel Eye has joined forces with Royston Guest, leading Business Growth Coach and CEO/Founder of Pathways Global, in our series, ‘Ask the Business Coach’.
Predictability builds trust, and in leadership, surprises are rarely welcome.
Surprises can erode trust, create confusion, and stall momentum. Great leaders understand the power of predictability, not in a rigid, unchanging sense, but in creating clarity, consistency and calm amid complexity.
No Surprises is one of the golden rules of leadership.
Three key takeaways
- Foster a culture of No Surprises.
- Lean into accountability, ownership and transparency.
- Prepare your team for success, not failure.
Episode timestamps
- [0.45] As a business leader or owner, you want to manage your month without any ‘No surprises’. These are surprises that could have been prevented. For example, your sales manager reports you’re unlikely to hit your sales target for the month, and your project manager indicates you are behind schedule on your deadlines for that period.
- [1.50] Generally, individuals don’t raise issues early enough because they believe it will resolve itself (sometimes it does), they are afraid to raise it (fear of losing their job, fear of getting into trouble, or they don’t want to share bad news or acknowledge incompetence in the individual).
- [2.15] Foster a culture of ‘No Surprises’. This promotes accountability, ownership, and transparency. Individuals are responsible for their actions and outcomes. There is a clear understanding of what good performance looks like.
- [3.00] There should be no surprises during performance conversations, including year-end reviews. Prepare your team for success, not failure, by practising ‘No Surprises’ when discussing their performance.
Do you have a question for the Business Coach?
Send your questions to [email protected]
Missed a previous episode? Catch-up and watch the series here.
