Great Expectations

Great Expectations

“Teach what you expect, expect what you teach.”

Some of the greatest fears that managers face is managing conflict, performance management, low productivity and turnover.  While there is no magic trick to solve these issues completely, there is a major component they all share.  As a rule, people don’t come to work to perform poorly and be in constant conflict with others.  These are the two catalysts that affect the other two areas; low productivity and high turnover.  Where you find these issues, you will generally find people who have not been communicated crystal clear expectations that align with their job. 

 Setting Expectations early is the best way to keep Team Members engaged and highly productive.  When setting expectations consider these four areas;

The Work Itself
When we hire someone we need to make sure they have a full understanding of what we expect them to do.  Asking yourself these questions will help you determine the duties that are outside the job description. 

1.      What does success look like?

2.      What are their boundaries?

3.      What are their roles and the role of others they work with?

4.      What is the level of quality/quantity expected? 

How Communication Happens
Communication is a key component in setting expectations.  It is important for your Team Members to understand:

1.      How often you communicate?  Do you communicate by the hour, day, or week?

2.      What is your style of communication?  Is it written, verbal, broadcast on a bulletin board or newsletter?

3.      When do you communicate?  When there are problems?  Before work begins?  After the work is complete?  Both? 

4.      Why do you communicate?  Is it to explain the jobs for the day?  Is it only when failure has occurred?  When there are new initiatives that have come down?

The Timing
When we set an expectation we need to also relate the time in which the expectation needs to be accomplished.  What means one thing for you may be completely different than what is heard by the Team Member.  I need it “tomorrow” has many answers.  If you are expecting the morning and you get it at the end of the day, you can’t be disappointed.  Remember, expectations must be crystal clear.

Finally, we MUST remember…

The Culture
When people are hired from another organization, they bring their past experience and habits with them.  If those experiences and habits differ from “the way things are done around here”, there will be mismatched expectations. These mismatches can lead to a perception that people aren’t a good fit.  This can be the initial source of poor performance (perceived or reality) and the root of conflict within the team as they try to understand each other’s roles on the team.  Always remembering the three guiding principles at Watco and teaching and coaching them to every Team Member allows them to see how their efforts align with Improving Customer Satisfaction, Improving Profitability and doing BOTH over the Long Term.   

 

The IMPOSSIBLE Race!

The IMPOSSIBLE Race

The Red Queen from Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass’ said it best,

"It takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.”

It is this philosophy that keeps leaders leading, great companies growing, and teams performing.  Standing at the bottom of your own career ladder can be extremely frustrating.  Particularly, if you fail to recognize that growth only comes through change and change can only manifest itself through action. 

If we are to grow we must realize that we are the masters of our own destiny.  Many times in my career as a manager and a leadership development coach I see people get caught in the “they” syndrome.  These are the people constantly waiting for someone else to step in and deliver their dreams and ambitions to them in a gift wrapped box.   I am reminded of a tale from Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, about a man on a journey who had come to a village only to find that the road ahead had been blocked by a mountain.  The man sat down to wait for the mountain to move.  Many years later the man was old and his hair was white and he still sat, waiting for the mountain to move.   He, too, was waiting for someone else to move his obstacles.

Getting caught up in the habit of waiting for things to happen in your life and your career is a bad place to be, particularly, when you work for a company that has nothing but growth and opportunity ahead.  If we don’t put action to our ambition we watch while everyone else gets promoted around us.  Advice:  Pick up the baton and get in the race!  You deserve to be a part of this unbelievable opportunity.  Take it!

Why Me?? Dealing with Disappointment

5 Ways You May Be Setting Yourself Up For Disappointment

From the time you were young you may have had to deal with disappointment.  Maybe you didn’t make the 4^th grade soccer team.  Maybe your Senior High Prom date ignored you the whole night after you spent hundreds of dollars and countless hours in preparation?  Or maybe you didn’t get that last big promotion that you just knew you “had in the bag”.  Whatever the situation, we have all at some time in our lives, had to deal with disappointment.  In fact, some people are like Charlie Brown, the protagonist, from the popular comic, Peanuts.  Poor Charlie Brown, he lives a life of self fulfilling disappointment.  If you seem to find yourself fighting the same battles time and time again or disappointment seems to follow you around like a bad penny, this article may be for you.

If you can identify what has caused disappointment in your life you can learn how to deal with it in the future.  Let’s look at the five ways you may be sabotaging your own good fortune.

1.      Unrealistic Expectations
In my position as a training and development professional I have worked with many individuals who are on a quest to climb the hailed corporate ladder.  They take classes, read books, attend seminars, but just can’t seem to make that leap to the next level, management.  Management, where “those people” live.  By “those people” I mean the ones that make gobs of cash for doing nothing but taking credit for what the rest of us do.  The problem is that is rarely the case.  Taking a position as a manager requires countless hours of work, professional training, and dealing with diverse and sometimes conflictual teams.  Being well informed about an expectation and what it may cost to get there sometimes requires us to be brutally honest about ourselves and the expectations and timelines we have set to accomplish a goal.  When we stop making unrealistic expectations, we start dealing less and less with the disappointing results they glean.

2.      “Me” Centered Perspective
When we are motivated by our own comfort or by not realizing the world is made up of other people that may be more qualified or just better we find ourselves fighting the disappointment continuum.  Self centeredness is a terrible existence because once you find out that the world truly does not revolve around you, you’re shattered.  When we begin to operate in a world of interdependence our paradigm changes and the waves of disappointment begin to subside in our ocean of “me”.

3.      The Karma Cloud
Oh, Karma, why do you chase me?  I like to also call this “magical thinking”.  I am surprised sometimes when I hear people blame bad karma for their disappointments.  “I should have opened the door for that lady last week and I would have got that promotion.”  Okay, maybe that is a stretch, but not far.  If you constantly live in a sea of regret or blame your bad luck on, well, luck; you will be just as disappointed as if you put your career in the hands of a rabbit’s foot or a four leaf clover.  Deal with the fact that you just weren’t prepared or someone else was more prepared.  The bottom line is; your future depends on your hard work and initiative, not your luck.

4.      Life Ain’t Fair
Let’s face it, this is not news.  We have all grown up with the age old concept that life is just not fair.  People are always going to be faster, prettier, smarter, older, younger, taller, shorter, richer, and poorer.  You get the picture.  Now face it, you don’t grow out of it.  You were born into an unfair world and the sooner you realize it and get over it, the sooner you can make your way to bigger and better horizons.

5.      It’s History!
Last, but not least, stop living in the past.  Unless you are learning from it for the future.  Thomas Edison made 1,000 failed attempts at the light bulb and now he lights the world!  In his first screen test Fred Astaire was told he couldn’t act, couldn’t sing, and could dance a little.  Steven Spielberg was rejected by the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film, and Television three times!  Learn from your mistakes!  Don’t live by them or let them define who you are capable of being.  If you do this, you will actually learn that disappointment is a lesson not a place.

Its Been Too Long!

Well, I know it has been way too long since I posted on this blog. And, quite frankly, I was shocked I still had it. I remember 3 years ago trying to get in on the "information highway" of blogging and just didnt have the desire to stick to it, apparently. Or maybe I ran out of content? I doubt that since my mind really does "go a milion miles an hour" jumping from topic to topic like a over active kid jacked up on Mountain Dew and M&M's...

Here I am, though. Back. And soon to come...much more random acts of jibberish along with it.