The E in L.E.A.D.E.R.S.: EXPECTATIONS
“Setting the Bar Sets the Tone”
Can you imagine playing the game of American football, without knowing the rules of the game? From the name, you would assume that the game is primarily about a ball that comes into contact with the foot. If you were sent out on the field without the rules and without ever having watched a game, your expectation might be that you were to kick the ball past all those people and take it to the other end of the field. Well, if you were in Europe, that might be the case, but the game would probably be soccer, which is actually called “football” in French, Spanish, Italian and German.
Sports are often used as metaphors for our experiences, and in this example the metaphor demonstrates that the name of the game can often be misleading. The only way to play the game properly is to know the rules, and to understand the expectations– which may be that you should somehow get the ball over the goal line, but not by kicking it. Unfortunately, all to often in the world of work, people are put into jobs and are given far too little guidance as to what the expectations are, hence they really do not know what or where the goal is. This is where every leader must start…You must define what the expectations are for the unit and for every job in the unit. Without expectations, how can your staff know when they have achieved success?
The importance of expectations seems obvious, yet far too many leaders do not focus enough attention on this crucial first step in leading. The key to setting expectations is that they must be clear and specific, so that every associate assigned to that job understands them and is held accountable for them. It is impossible to hold your associates accountable if they do not know what is expected of them; it is also impossible to hold them accountable if you have no way of objectively determining if the expectations were achieved. Every expectation must be measurable, which provides you and your unit with an objective assessment of success and failure.
Much has been written about goal setting, and even more has been written about how the goals get established. It is not our objective here to sell one process or another. There are those who believe that goals that are set mutually by the associate, and therefore “owned by the associate” are far better than those that are mandated by the boss. Others believe that clarity, understanding and acceptance of the expectations are the essential elements that make for effective goal setting. Whatever the management style or philosophy, it is clear that without expectations being set, your staff will flounder. In that situation, you and your unit’s performance will flounder as well. You must, in what ever way works for you and your associates, make certain that every job, and eventually every person in those jobs, clearly have expectations that guide the work.
