THE ART OF EXPECTATIONS

Leadership is a tough role. One of the hardest parts of being a leader is understanding how to lead and how to communicate what you expect from those in your charge.

One of the most important skills you can have as a leader is how to set expectations. When you're not clear about what your leadership expectations are, it's difficult for those who work under you to do their best work.

This blog post will give you some tips on how to be an effective and successful leader by understanding and communicating your leadership expectations through three different lenses: the first-hand perspective of someone working under leadership, the second-hand perspective of someone observing leadership from afar, and finally with third-party stakeholders such as colleagues or shareholders.

As someone who has both led, and been led, I can think of more than one occasion where the one doing the leading, did not clearly communicate their expectations, so not only was the end result not what they wanted, the ones completing the task were frustrated because they didn't have clear guidance.

This happens more often than you may think. But why? Because clearly setting expectations is not always something that comes naturally.

Setting expectations for your team members can feel like an impossible feat. However, if you want your teams to operate effectively, you MUST be clear in setting your expectations for them.

Pssst, let me tell you a little secret: the best way to improve your ability to set clear and actionable expectations is to improve your communication skills.

The first step in communicating your leadership expectations comes from asking yourself certain questions: What do I want to see happen? How do I need it done? When do expect this task to be completed? Who do we go to if we have questions? What is the desired outcome? The answers to these questions don't need to be long or detailed, but you do need a clear picture of those answers so you can convey them to your team.

The next step in communicating your leadership expectations comes from recognizing that you are not alone. You always want your employees and members of your leadership team involved when it comes time to set expectations. This increases the likelihood that they will understand what you are asking of them and most importantly, can ask questions about anything they don't fully comprehend.

The third step in communicating leadership expectations is to make sure everyone on your leadership team understands their role when it comes to setting expectations for others. This includes team members who are not in direct leadership roles. If you have a leadership role on your team, the leadership expectations extend to managers and employees below you. However, it also means that anyone within your organization or group should be able to set expectations for other people (for instance when hiring new team members).

Your leadership team should understand how to set leadership expectations and communicate those expectations clearly. This requires specific training and practice as well as patience from both the leader setting the expectations and the people receiving them.

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Ciao for now!