Do Your Employees Know What is Expected of Them?

As a new manager, or someone jumping into a new role with direct reports, do those that now work for you know

• What to deliver to you to keep you up to date on what they are doing?
• When and how to raise issues to you?
• What they are measured on for performance feedback/raises/promotions?

Even if you have been leading your team for a long time, would each one of them be able to tell you that they know exactly what you expect of them? Probably not, and unfortunately, this is fairly common in business for a number of reasons, including:

• There is too much to do and you don't carve out time to set appropriate expectations
• The business goals or their role has changed, but expectations have not
• There aren't clear expectations at your level or higher that you can map back to your organization
• Annual performance reviews aren't the norm

To ensure your team is norming and performing in a direction you need to take them, setting expectations is key to getting the job done. Here are some tips to ensure you set clear, measurable expectations to make progress, versus, expectations to check off the to do list.

1. Have Report Take First Stab at Documenting Expectations
Let your team be in control of their destiny, and help you understand where your team is coming from, before laying down the goals you expect.

2. Map Corporate, Business Unit and Your Expectations to Your Reports
How do you plan to meet your expectations if your reports aren't in some form of alignment to help you meet your goals? Areas typically mapped include

• Quality
• Revenue/Amount Produced
• Cost Control
• Responsiveness

3. What Are Your Reports Expecting of You?
Make sure you know what they expect of you in case you need to change anything you do or convince them of something different.

4. Behaviour
Related to responsiveness, set expectations on returning emails and phone calls, being at meetings, and ettiquette on things like email.

5. Review Often
Sometimes once a year isn't enough if you are noticing issues early in the year. Have informal reviews when needed and "tweak" - expectations though a solid foundation for measuring a person's performance, can be modified through the year.

6. Set the Example
Do what you expect of your team. Otherwise you'll be the "pot calling the kettle black".