Soar to Success April 2017

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Ever wonder what your boss is
thinking? Are you ever frustrated
when your team doesn’t seem
to understand what needs to be
done? In this article I will share
some tips on how to set clear
expectations to get results.
There is a special place between
success and failure. It is called
“meeting expectations”. Do not
mistake this place for adequate
or average. Not at all.
Honing in on the actual
expectations is not as easy as it
sounds.
The concept of expectations is
two sided. The person setting
the expectations has one point
of view. The person performing
the work often has a different
point of view.
You can tell when there is a
difference in understanding
expectations. The manager
uses phrases like, “he should
know”, “it seems so clear”, or “I
don’t understand how it can be
so hard”. The employee might
say things like, “I just can’t seem
to please her” or “he keeps
changing his minds”.
You have probably heard these
phrases before. A January
2016 Forbes article,
shares some
interesting statistics. A Towers
Watson survey shows that half
of managers don’t set effective
employee goals. Wow! That is a
very high percentage of people
just floating around without
clear expectations.
Without clear goals, how is
anyone supposed to meet
expectations?
Without clear goals, how can
everyone be on the same page?
Here are some tips for setting
clear goals to get the results you
want.
• Tie goals to overall
business needs . Otherwise
why bother.
• Set three goals for any
given period. More than that
and the message is muddled.
The person on the receiving
end has too much input and
can’t effectively focus on the
most important things.
• Clear expectations are
defined by the listener – so
be sure the message you are
sending about expectations
is also received. Nodding
heads are not the same
as clear understanding.
Go a step further and ask,
“Does this make sense?” or
“What is your view of this
expectation?”.
• Put expectations in
writing. You could use a
performance form of some
Get Results Through
Clear Communication
By Katherine Burik
SOAR TO SUCCESS / April 2017 / Business Acceleration Strategies