Kate Kernaghan and I first worked together in 2018, during a time of crisis – in fact one of the worst droughts on record had ravished NSW and its water systems, and we were the comms people who had to navigate a complex world of stakeholders including the NSW state government, farmers and First Nations landowners. Think of long days on the road, testy town hall meetings and some pretty average roadside regional motel stays. It was a bonding time!

Fast forward to 2023.

Kate is the Founder of Factotum Communications, a business created to inspire meaningful connections primarily within the Project Infrastructure industry. She has grown Factotum from solopreneur to a small company employing a team of 8 in the business’s first couple of years. With a vision to attract, develop and share exceptional talent and knowledge, she credits much of the successful establishment of her business to successfully managing expectations on every front, be that community, stakeholder, media, government, clients and importantly her own staff.

At the mid-way point of her Executive MBA studies and on the back of a recent international study tour in Asia and the Middle East, Kate has recently been reflecting on the challenges and opportunities at play in each of those economies. Most intriguing is the role governments play in using regulation (and de-regulation) to signal clear expectations to the market and in turn drive priorities.

Here we discuss managing expectations. Something we all need to do every day in some shape no matter who we are and what we do.

Hear from Kate on:

1. Your bio on LinkedIn says “people pleaser” – is that telling us that you always say yes?

2. Can you recall a time when managing expectations failed for you, in business or personally, and what that showed you?

3. Does being in a service-based business mean the balance is always harder to achieve when it comes to creating space to reimagine expectations on say deadlines or capacity? Share your tips.

4. How do you lead your team to manage themselves better and bring their own flavour to the business you’ve created?

5. What has your Executive MBA so far allowed you to do when it comes to managing expectations from your own self and your ways of working better, and with more agility and more creatively perhaps?

6. Take away: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Managing Expectations?

CONTACT INFO:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kate-kernaghan-b9bb8478

Website: www.FactotumCommunications.com.au

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