Going above and beyond doesn’t help you unless you communicate clearly. Sometimes failing to deliver but overdelivering on the failure can lead to better outcomes.
What am I talking about, and why does this relate to risk & compliance? Let’s unpack two examples.
Hide & seek – ultras edition
Each evening, the kids and I play. Hide & seek is always popular. When it comes to my turn to hide, I’m struggling. There are only so many places I can further damage my back in the name of play (an ill-advised contortionist effort in a laundry basket, necessitating rescue by my wife, is the nadir of this genre).
Last night, I decided we’d up the ante.
The seeker team of two rascals would have one torch and we turned off all the lights in the house. I hoped this would lead to some sibling cooperation after a fractious afternoon where they competed in the Jealousy Olympics in a bid to derail a carefully curated Mother’s Day.
They had fun. I even managed to “jump scare” the too-cool-for-anything-really 12-year-old. For the uninitiated, YouTube “Jump Scare FNAF [Five Night’s At Freddies]” for a whole new sub-culture of pre-teen lore. I was very proud of turning myself into a coat rack, with the hood of a dark coat over my face.
When the inevitable, “Okay, it’s time to get ready for bed,” came, the protests were Gallic. Door slams, barricades, sit-ins, flounces, the works. The hide & seek had been too fun and the dopamine/adrenaline was off the charts.
Risk lesson:
When we over-deliver, it can set unrealistic expectations. I see this routinely, where an overworked integrity/risk/compliance person slogs day and night to deliver something that goes above and beyond. That then becomes the benchmark. A back-breaking and resentment-filled benchmark, impossible to sustain.
(Not) flying high
Years ago, a friend told me of a trip he and his mates took to New York (from London). Half flew British Airways, the rest on Virgin Atlantic. On the return trip, the BA crew arrived at the airport, went through the many stages of hell that are checking in, passport control, security, boarding, etc. and arrived back in Blighty tired and underwhelmed, like kids coming off a sugar high. BA had delivered, but no more.
The Virgin lot arrived at the airport to find the flight cancelled. Virgin organised a bus to take them back to a much nicer hotel (than they’d paid for themselves), picked up the tab, limo’ed them back the following day and lavished a few extras (champagne, etc.) on the delayed passengers on the return leg. They arrived in London a day delayed but raving about Virgin’s customer service. Virgin had not delivered (on their core function), but excelled in damage limitation.
Risk lesson:
You may come out on top if you mess up but significantly overcompensate.
Takeaways
Communication seems key in both instances. If you’re going to overdeliver on the expected service (hide & seek), explain:
- Purpose: the reason for changing things.
- When: will this reoccur? Is this a limited-time offer? The rules, essentially.
- Why: the motivation for the over-delivery (reward, a token of appreciation, etc.).
- What: a clear explanation of what elements are “within the scope” and those that are exceptional for this limited period.
If you mess up, communication is again key:
- Own it: even if the issue is not down to you (e.g., some other party has delivered late), the person(s) impacted doesn’t care. Take responsibility.
- Minimise discomfort and friction: Look for ways to put the person(s) in a better position than they’d otherwise expect – generally, this is about taking away stressors that stem from the mess up.
- Overdeliver: For example, if you’re late on a report, deliver a report AND a two-page PPT summary that looks amazing, so they can slot it into their existing presentation.
In broader risk management, we’re asked to be educators, therapists, and enforcers. In each role, there’s pressure to be creative but efficient (time, budget, disruption). That’s impossible without over- or under-delivering on expectations that trend from low to wild. We inevitably create dissonance, but communicating might help us come out on top.
What examples have you experienced or seen of these phenomena?