Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty, Second Edition

Chapter 2. Expectations and Mindfulness

If you want to manage the unexpected, you have to understand, first, how expectations work and, second, how to engage them mindfully. Those two topics are the focus of this chapter. The basic argument is that expectations are built into organizational roles, routines, and strategies. These expectations create the orderliness and predictability that we count on when we organize. Expectations, however, are a mixed blessing because they create blind spots. Blind spots sometimes take the form of belated recognition of unexpected, threatening events. And frequently blind spots get larger simply because we do a biased search for evidence that confirms the accuracy of our original expectations. The problem with ...