Does your team know what you want? Here’s how to ensure it.

This week, let’s dive into something we’ve all encountered: those plans that never quite take off and ideas that seem to circle endlessly in meetings without any action. It’s frustrating, right? Well, a big part of this issue often boils down to one thing: setting expectations.

Now, you might be thinking, “Setting expectations? That sounds a bit fuzzy and complicated.” But fear not, my friend! We’ve got the roadmap to help us navigate this terrain. 🗺️

When it comes to setting expectations for your team, you can base them on:

✅ The established standards of work in your team and industry.

✅ Ideas that everyone agrees on as constituting good work.

✅ A shared understanding of team goals and responsibilities.

Setting clear expectations regarding performance and behavior among team members helps synchronize reactions to challenges, in addition to ensuring that clarity on processes and goals remains high across the board. Hence, if you often find yourself frustrated and overwhelmed with the number of things that go wrong – the loophole might lie in not setting the expectations right for your team.

Just picture this:

• Your team does not know that you expect reports on Friday evenings
• Your team knows that you review reports on Friday evenings

Which scenario is going to help you out here? Once that is clear, we can figure out how to set expectations effectively.

What’s the right way to set expectations?

But here’s the twist – your team also has expectations of you! They want a manager who provides effective feedback, resolves concerns, and doesn’t pester them for hourly reports. The tricky part is that these expectations often go unspoken. We get so caught up in setting quarterly goals that we forget the day-to-day expectations shaping our work.

At the onset, setting expectations can be trickier than setting goals. There’s no clear finish line, which varies from person to person. And often, you or your team might not know exactly what’s needed. To tackle this challenge, managers can:

• 🚀 Lead by example and demonstrate the behavior you expect from your team.
• 🤝 Establish shared standards and norms with your team.
• 🗣️ Use feedback sessions to discuss expectations in professional relationships openly.
• 💡 Respect your team’s needs and boundaries.

And here’s a nifty tip: learn from examples! Check out what other managers and leaders are doing to set expectations right. Risely can help with that. It offers interactive quizzes that evaluate real-life situations related to expectation setting. Plus, it shows you the right expectations and how they come about.

You can even sign up for free to access these quizzes and other activities that enhance your critical skills. Expectation setting is just one of the areas that can hold back professional success for managers, and there are many more where small mistakes are creating more significant troubles for you. Risely is your AI co-pilot for leadership development, offering short and sweet training units to help you grow. 🌱