My colleague Jim Hopes wrote recently about the importance of expectations, explaining our lever analogy . People learn and grow in response to the expectations set by others—parents, teachers, friends, colleagues, mentors, and in the workplace, most especially managers who know how to do their job. Expectations are most effective when they’re individualized, tailored to the unique strengths of each person you manage and to where they are in their growth curve.
But there’s another kind of expectation we set, and while not at all individualized, this type of expectation is also very powerful. These are the expectations we set nearly every minute of every business day, simply by doing our jobs.
Most managers think of these activities in terms of their inherent value or purpose or impact. But think again—because each one has an expectation value as well. Your people are watching your every move (and non-move), drawing conclusions almost constantly about what’s important to you, where your priorities lie, and the expectation implication built into everything you say and do.
As leaders and managers, we set expectation by the…
Policies we prescribe
Accounts we assign
Technology we install
Resources we provide
Tasks we delegate
Questions we ask
Activities we inspect
Budgets we establish
Deadlines we set
Performance we measure
Recognition we give
Outcomes we reward
Achievements we celebrate
Criticism we deliver
Talent we recruit
People we promote
Folks we fire
Values we demonstrate
Energy we show
Behaviors we model
Time we invest
Attention we pay
Suggestions we make
Empowerment we grant
Information we disseminate
Arrangements we cancel
Crap we tolerate
Stuff we ignore
Handle with care. Make sure you’re setting the expectations you intend to set.
Here is a link to Jim's recent post that prompted me to write this new post.
