No Surprises

Beth looked at Philippe. Philippe looked at Jim. Jim looked at Beth. When they realized what they were doing, they all chuckled. "You. No you. No you," said Beth. "Seriously," she continued, "someone has to tell him."

Jim was more serious. "It's a suicide mission. You know how he always says 'no surprises' in all caps. I don't think I'll be the one."

Philippe had an idea. "There must be some way to spin this so it isn't so awful sounding," he said.

Beth, Jim, and Philippe are trying to figure out a way to break some bad news to somebody who evidently has a well advertised "no surprises" policy. They might find a way this time, but "no surprises" is a risky way to run things. Here's a little of what can go wrong with a "no surprises" policy.

Too broad a message

If your policy is "no surprises," then you're saying that you don't want any good surprises either. Probably you don't mean that.

It's an unattainable goal

Surprises are inevitable in projects. Operations and projects differ in that projects are unique and first-of-a-kind. Surprises are the essence of project work.

When a surprise does happen, you have a new problem

If your policy is "no surprises," and a surprise happens, you have two problems. Not only do you have to deal with the surprise, but you also have a violation of policy. Because policy violations usually require disciplinary action, the policy itself creates a problem.

People find workarounds

A "no surprises" policy
could create some
unpleasant surprises

Above, Philippe is about to suggest that they slant the truth to avoid the surprising bad news. Slanting the truth is almost always a bad idea.

Instead of "no surprises," why not ask for what you really need? Some possibilities:

No surprises — really

If this is what you need, then unique, first-of-a-kind projects aren't within your reach. Instead, move into an operational role, where everything you do is like something done before. Surprises are less common in operations.

Keep me so well informed that I know whatever you know

This would be nice, if it weren't micromanagement. It's so intrusive that it's irritating for everyone involved. And if two people in an organization know all the same things, one of them is redundant.

If it's a surprise to me, it should be a surprise to you, too

This is more reasonable, and it's what you probably need, too, provided you allow for the pace of events exceeding anyone's ability to keep you up to date. Allow a reasonable time lag between others' learning of the event and their passing it along to you.

There will always be surprises, and here's one: The trick for dealing with surprises is not to avoid them, but to get really good at recovering from them.  Top    Next Issue

Are your projects always (or almost always) late and over budget? Are your project teams plagued by turnover, burnout, and high defect rates? Turn your culture around. Read 52 Tips for Leaders of Project-Oriented Organizations, filled with tips and techniques for organizational leaders. Order Now!

Reader Comments

Alex S. Brown (www.alexsbrown.com)

At first read, I was surprised that your column was against a "No Surprises" policy. I often emphasize this point to my own staff.

The more I read, though, the better I understood. The column makes good points about overly controlling, impossible policies. When I need "no surprises" on a project, I mean something like the "if it's a surprise to me, it should be to you" version.

The way I explain it is, "If I am going to hear about something on your project and it will surprise me, I want to hear it from you first. If you are not sure whether I will be surprised or whether I will hear about it, err on the side of caution: tell me about it. If you are sure I will be surprised, tell me about it as soon as you can." People take a couple of weeks to figure out what is important and what is not, but it seems to build an open relationship quickly. Also, because it emphasizes "You tell me about it," people know that I want them to tell me about bad news and quickly.

I bet the fictional manager in your story also suffers from the "shoot the messenger" syndrome. No matter what official policies you have, people will never tell you bad news if you punish the people who bring the news. Personally, I just ask them for solutions, and give them help and support if they need it. So far, it has worked well for me.

Thanks for another thought-provoking column. — Alex

Your comments are welcome

Would you like to see your comments posted here? rbrenDJpmhgyaDTwBQXkhner@ChacmGoYuzfZpOvDQdRkoCanyon.comSend me your comments by email, or by Web form.

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:

Double Your Downsizing Damage

Some people believe that senior management is actually trying to hurt their company by downsizing. If they are they're doing a pretty bad job of it. Here's a handy checklist for evaluating the performance of your company's downsizers.

How to Procrastinate

You probably know many techniques for procrastinating, and use them regularly, but vociferously deny doing so. That's what makes this such a delicate subject that I've been delaying writing this article. Well, those days are over.

Self-Serving Bias in Organizations

We all want to believe that we can rely on the good judgment of decision makers when they make decisions that affect organizational performance. But they're human, and they are therefore subject to a cognitive bias known as ``Em''self-serving bias``/Em''. Here's a look at what can happen.

I've Been Right All Along

As people, we're very good at forming and holding beliefs and opinions despite nagging doubts. These doubts lead us to search for confirmation of our beliefs, and to reject information that might conflict with our beliefs. Often, this process causes us to persist in believing nonsense. How can we tell when this is happening?

Creating Toxic Conflict: II

Some supervisors seem to behave as if part of their job description is creating toxic conflict among their subordinates. It isn't really, of course, but here's a collection of methods bad managers use that make trouble.

See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness and Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming May 14: Working with the Overconfident

A cognitive bias known as the Overconfidence Effect causes us to overestimate the reliability of our judgments. Decisions we make based on those judgments are therefore suspect. But there are steps we can take to make our confidence levels more realistic, and thus make our decisions more reliable. Available here and by RSS on May 14.

And on May 21: Mismanaging Project Managers

Most organizations hold project managers accountable for project performance. But they don't grant those project managers control of needed resources. Nor do they hold project sponsors or other senior managers accountable for the consequences of their actions when they interfere with project work. Here's a catalog of behaviors worth looking at. Available here and by RSS on May 21.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenDJpmhgyaDTwBQXkhner@ChacmGoYuzfZpOvDQdRkoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info