Do these examples sound familiar to you?
- After the usual greetings and niceties, Mike, the manager, began the meeting with his direct reports with this statement, “Well, getting down to business, I expect that we’ll hear positive reports about your projects’ progress. Who’s going first?”
What followed was a litany of excuses from everyone, about why they were behind in all projects.
It ended with Mike saying, “I expect you all to have reversed this situation and caught up by the next meeting.”
The real problem was that this was a repeat of every meeting they had.
- At another workplace, Julie spoke to her direct report and said “I expect you to have mastered this system by now. I’m going to have to performance manage you.”
The response was a resentful silence. You can imagine how that might turn out.
- At yet another workplace Jim was talking to his group “We need to manage expectations better”
There were obedient nods, with little depth of commitment or even clarity of understanding.
Why do we over-use that vague term ‘expectations’ in the workplace, as though it has strength of meaning?
An expectation held by one party is no guarantee that it is held by another.
I assert that we need to replace ‘expectations’ with clear ‘agreements’.
Expectations and agreements are not the same thing.
Managing ‘expectations’ is like herding cats.
I’d rather ask people to honour their clear agreements.
I get frustrated when I hear leaders talk about their expectations being unfulfilled by others. When I ask them “Did you obtain a clear committed agreement about that” they usually go silent.
How can you reasonably hold people to account with your unclear, perhaps ambiguous expectations?
Make agreements that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed (S.M.A.R.T.) and you’ll get better outcomes.
Ask people to make SMART agreements instead of holding vague expectations.
It’ll make working life clearer and easier for everyone.
What could you do to help materialise that change?
