Career Tips - Issue # 24 (Sept. 2005)

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The Power of Exceeding Expectations (Pleasant Surprises)

Recently, I delivered a talk at the annual general body meeting of the Society of Technical Communicators. The talk was free, both for the audience and for me. After the questions and answers session, when I was about to say final "thank-you," the president of STC came up and handed over a small envelope to me. He said, "A small gift for you." I opened the envelope and found a gift voucher (Border's book store). Well, I liked it! I didn't expect to gain anything from that talk and now I had a windfall of free books.

Anyway, a day later I was sitting at McDonald's with my younger daughter. She was munching fries when all of a sudden a lady appeared from behind the sales counter, walked up to our table and gave my daughter a balloon. There was a sudden change of expression on my daughter's face. She was thrilled. She was not expecting what she got--a balloon.

When I saw my daughter's happiness, it reminded me of how I was also similarly feeling happy just a day before when I got that gift voucher. Then a question came to my mind: Is there anything common between the two incidents?

I found the answer while spring-cleaning my room. Just before I was about to dispose it off, I happened to browse through the April 2000 issue of the Reader's Digest magazine. It carries an article titled "New Rules for Landing a Job." In this article, Nick Corcodilos, a famous headhunter, recounts a story of how one his clients, Zagorski, got a job.

Zagorski went for an interview at AT&T. At the outset, even before Zagorski could settle in his seat, the interviewer told him that he had only 20 minutes to spare. Instead of feeling belittled or nervous, Zagorski got up and walked up to the marker board. Then he started writing down the challenges faced by the company. Fifteen minutes later, he wrote down his estimate of what he would add to the bottom line. When he paused to take a look at the interviewer, he found him completely dazed. The interviewer told him there was no need for any further interview. He called in his team, introduced Zagorski to everybody and they began a working meeting, which lasted for two hours.

After reading the above storey, it was clear why I and my daughter felt happy. Both of us got something valuable--without expecting it. Someone exceeded our expectations. We were pleasantly surprised.

Moral of the storey: If you want to make someone happy and impressed, try to exceed his/her expectations. In other words, give that person a pleasant surprise.

By making that presentation, Zagorski exceeded his interviewer's expectations and got the job. By giving me that gift voucher, STC president exceeded my expectations and I will never forget that gesture. And by offering a balloon, that lady exceeded my daughter's expectations, who, of course, wants to visit McDonald's every day!

If you want to test out this idea, bring home an unexpected gift for your spouse or kids. Give someone a surprise lunch treat. Make people pleasantly surprised and see for yourself!

>>CAREER TIP:Each of us carries expectations in all kinds of encounters, situations and relationships. If you take care to understand and then exceed someone's expectations, you can make that person happy and impressed.

You can use the power of exceeding expectations in many different situations.

Try it with potential employers:

- Always ask a few intelligent questions during interviews. It will be a pleasant surprise for interviewers because they generally meet candidates who never ask any questions or if they ask, the questions are mostly about "What will I get?"

- Go to an interview after learning about an employer's products, services and challenges. That's going to be a surprise again because interviewers generally meet candidates who need to be briefed about the company's business.

- And finally, do what Zagorski did. Go armed with a presentation. Well, most people go to an interview for "answering questions," which is what interviewers expect. Go beyond it!

Use it with present employer/boss:

- Do something which is beyond your job scope. According to a survey (cited in the book, "The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers"), the world's most successful executives have one thing in common: They consistently go beyond their job scopes and make surprise contributions.

The same message is echoed by Jack Welch in his latest book, "Winning." "Perform far beyond expectations and expand the boundaries of your job," advises Welch while providing tips for getting promoted.

Apply it on customers:

- Do something beyond what your customers expect. This is the game well played by services industry. Have you seen an airline ad which shows an air-hostess gently covering a peacefully sleeping child with a blanket?

In nutshell, if you want to make anyone happy and impressed, know his/her expectations and then exceed them. Give that person a pleasant surprise!

Atul Mathur

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***Copyright 2005 Atul Mathur***

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