Expectations: If you don't tell 'em, they don't know you got 'em

Expectations are tricky things. Expectation goes beyond hope or desire. To have an expectation is to know with a degree of certainty that something you want to happen will happen. Indeed, one of the definitions for the root word "expect" is: "to consider bound in duty or obligated." There is a certain amount of expectation inherent in the employer-employee relationship. Seems simple enough, yes? I have need of someone to do work for which I will pay; you have need of money and are willing to do my work in exchange for money. Done and done! Yet managers complain bitterly about tasks not done right the first time and employees complain about unreasonable managers who change their minds about what they want every time they see a product. What's going on? Let's go over a real life scenario and then I'll give some helpful hints for both managers and staff on how to manage expectations.

Sometimes It's Not How Well You Do The Work

Consider this scenario brought to me recently by one of my corporate coaching clients. She was not only in a new job in a new industry (to her) but the division was newly created to design and implement a brand new initiative for the company. The director was frequently on the road so work assignments were frequently relayed electronically - voicemail, Blackberry, IM, you name it. My client dove bravely in and tackled every assignment as it was presented, but almost immediately began to get harsh criticism. She was severely reprimanded for being late to a conference despite being in the conference room at the appointed time. The next big dust-up was for not leaving messages on her voicemail and email that she was out of the office at a conference, despite the fact she was checking her messages in both places several times a day. Every day there seemed to be something procedural that set off her boss. My coaching client was beside herself. The great work she was doing never seemed to get noticed and the constant nattering about what she saw as stupid stuff was becoming unbearable. She didn't want to quit as she felt being in on the ground floor of this new program was a tremendous opportunity yet didn't see how she was ever going to please the director. What to do?

The answer was fairly simple. The boss has expectations she hadn't communicated up front. All we had to do was identify those expectations and put develop a strategy to manage each one. Some were easy, for example, timely arrival. For the director, being on time was arriving 15 minutes early. A bit more complicated was the voice mail/e mail issue. My client realized, (1) the Director thought voice and email notification was very important customer service, and, (2) the Director was checking her subordinates voice mail and email! The strategy was to have my client put into her calendar and electronic To-Do list reminders to change the messages prior to departure. She also put the remote access instructions for the voice mail and email systems into her briefcase so she could change her messages while on the road if need be. One by one she identified her director's underlying expectations and dealt with them until their relationship became very collegial and efficient.

You may be asking why I didn't suggest to my client that she take a meeting with her director to discuss all work expectations so she could meet them without having to go through a "discovery process." That of course was our first strategy, but we met with a solid obstacle: the director. She refused to explicate what she wanted, saying that as a professional, my client should know what to do, that "everyone knows the basics."

Everyone may know "the basics" (which is extremely debatable) but no one could possibly know what her business basics were because she wasn't telling! And truth to tell every manager has their own special take on "the basics." I've known managers who had specific requirements for the cleanliness of staff desks and I've known managers who thought an organized desk was a sign of too much free time! The bottom line is no one can know anyone's expectations if they aren't communicated in some fashion. The following are some strategies for managers and staff that can help minimize frustration and maximize harmony and productivity.

Managers - Communicate!

It is vitally important to take the time to identify your expectations for all elements of the work environment and to clearly communicate those expectations to every employee from Day One. Do not abandon your staff to the employee orientation. They will come out of that meeting knowing their health benefits and where the cafeteria is, but they will not know that your definition of "on time" is actually arriving ten minutes before the announced starting time, or that you expect written agendas for all meetings no matter how small.

Checklists, Etc.,

Communicating you expectations can be a simple as spending an hour to create a checklist of all your personal business preferences. Discuss the list during your new hire welcome meeting. Capture everything that makes you smile as well as sets your teeth on edge. Here are some examples: If your company has casual business dress on Fridays and for you that doesn't give carte blanche to flip-flops, say so on the checklist. Some managers like to start the day taking questions while the coffee is brewing; others want closed door time to review the day's schedule before they welcome visits; do you have a preference? Put it on the checklist. Do errors in spelling and formatting drive you nuts? Spell out your formatting and editing expectations in the list.

If a checklist doesn't suit you, writing your expectations out in the form of a memorandum can work. Going over your expectations at the start of staff meetings can be useful as well. Some people remember more of what they hear than what they read and visa versa, so try getting the word out using different communication vehicles. The goal is to communicate your expectations in order to minimize the time taken up by procedural issues and maximize the time spent on product development and delivery. One caution: the expectations you communicate must be real. That is, don't put things on the list you think you should want, only those behaviors you really want. You won't follow up on those things you don't really value and that will call into question whether anything on the list is of real importance to you. Your staff will deliver on your expectations but only it they are clearly defined and reinforced.

Staff - Communicate!

Should you find yourself working for someone who doesn't communicate their expectations well, give yourself permission to ask questions. This may sound like a no-brainer, but invariably I find when I am coaching project management techniques, the answer to the question, when are these tasks due is, my boss didn't say.

It's your career, your workload; why not manage it to your benefit? Ask when projects are due, for whom they are being developed (after all you'd create a different product for the head of the company then just for your boss' eyes, right?) who else might need to collaborate on the project, etc. A good strategy is to start by saying, "So if I heard you correctly..." and relay back the project assignment asking along the way when the project is due, and so forth. As time goes by you'll find you will have to ask fewer and fewer questions because not only will you have identified your bosses expectations, your boss will begin to anticipate your behavior and provide the information as a matter of course.

Final Note to Both Managers and Staff

Be patient and stick with your strategy to improve communications. It may take a while for communicating expectations to become part of the office culture, but when it happens, and it will, it's a beautiful thing.