The Professional Guarantee Approach

This is an approach that can be used in many situations. Imagine that you have a professional role. It can be useful to clarify and communicate what you can guarantee and maybe what you can’t necessarily guarantee.

The work you do will obviously influence the kind of guarantee you can give. If you are a teacher, medic, coach, therapist or lawyer you will offer different things to people.

People who work in companies may also aim to guarantee certain things to their colleagues and customers. Let’s look at one example.

The Good Leader’s Guarantee

Imagine that you lead an organisation. You may be able to guarantee some things but not others. Here are some themes you may focus on when describing what you can guarantee.

My Professional Guarantee

I can guarantee that I will aim:

To be positive, professional and encourage people to deliver peak performances;

To create an encouraging environment in which motivated people can perform superb work;

To encourage us to build on what we can control whilst doing our best to manage the things we can’t control;

To continually communicate the organisation’s purpose, principles and picture of success;

To encourage people to play to their strengths and make their best contributions towards achieving the picture of success;

To make clear contracts with people about the results to deliver and then manage by outcomes rather than by tasks;

To encourage people to deliver consistently high professional standards and also focus on continuous improvement;

To encourage people to keep adding to their professional repertoires and shaping their future careers;

To ensure we do our best to deliver today’s business whilst also shaping tomorrow’s business and laying the foundations for future success;

To make decisions based on our principles and translate these into action when doing our best to achieve the picture of success.

I can’t guarantee that I will be able:

To ensure that we always achieve success but I will make sure we do our best to achieve this aim;

To predict all of the events that may be beyond our control but I will make sure we prepare ourselves to manage potential future challenges;

To ensure that everybody has lifetime employment with us but I will ensure that we help people to shape their future careers.

The professional guarantee approach can help people to clarify what they can and can’t offer to their customers, colleagues or other stakeholders. When appropriate, they can then communicate this to people in a positive and professional way.

Let’s return to your own work. If you wish, try tackling the exercise this theme. This invites you to do the following things.

First, describe the professional role that you do. Second, describe the specific things you can guarantee that you will aim to do in your role. Third, describe the specific things you can’t necessarily guarantee.

Here is the exercise. If appropriate, you can use it as a framework you can follow to do your best and perform superb work in your professional role.