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When you’re working in a team environment, it’s important to provide clear expectations so everyone on the team knows what they need to do. If you do not set clear expectations, employees won’t know what’s expected of them and will end up wasting time trying to figure out how best to contribute.
A study was conducted by a group of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and published in the Journal of Applied Psychology. It focuses on workers in the healthcare industry who were asked to fill out surveys about their work expectations and how they felt their managers conveyed those expectations.
The survey found that employees who received clear goals from their managers felt more confident at work than those whose bosses provided vague or unclear goals. Employees also said they were more likely to stay with the company if they’d been given clear-firm objectives.
Why is it important to provide clear expectations and goals for employees from the start.
You should always set clear expectations with your team members, even if they are not new hires. With new hires especially, there is a lot of uncertainty about what is expected of them, so it’s important to have an initial conversation that addresses expectations. Holding orientations and departmental trainings from the start allows for clarity of expectations and consistency.
As a manager, you have an important role in setting expectations for your team. It’s important to be clear about what performance looks like and the expectations that you have for employees. From there, you can monitor their progress and take action when things aren’t going according to plan.
It’s common for managers to focus on their own responsibilities and activities, but it’s also important for them to look at themselves and their teams in order to ensure that everyone is on track towards success. The best way to do this? Provide clear expectations for your employees!
When employee performance expectation are clear, providing feedback and corrective actions is a straightforward task.
When employee performance expectations are clear, providing feedback and corrective actions is a straightforward task. For example, if you’re a manager who has clearly communicated that you expect employees to arrive at work before 10 AM each day and stay until 7 PM, then it’s easy to provide feedback when an employee arrives late or leaves early. You can also easily identify areas where they need to improve on their performance level.
However, if your expectations are unclear or constantly changing, providing clear directives becomes much more difficult because you have no way of knowing whether the employee understands what they should be doing differently or better than before.
When employee performance is clear, providing feedback and corrective actions is a straightforward task. This makes sense because managers can easily identify areas where employees need improving and those where they excel at their job responsibilities.
Manager’s needs to be more explicit in their communication about what it takes for the employee to succeed
Many managers need to be more explicit in their communication about what it takes for the employee to succeed. From there, the employee must take responsibility for his or her own performance. Self-reflecting on how they achieved success, or didn’t, on a given task could lend insights to them and their manager. Managers must also be open to feedback from the employee regarding how he or she might approach the task to achieve success. Finally, if your team is struggling because there are unspoken expectations among team members, consider facilitating a workshop. Then you could facilitate a discussion about expectations and come up with ways they could be better communicated.
In addition, managers should be clear about the resources available to their employees and the consequences for performance. This will help ensure that all parties are on the same page at all times. Clear communication is essential for preventing any misunderstandings or miscommunication down the line.
Are your employees trying hard enough?
As an example, you may believe an employee isn’t meeting expectations because they aren’t trying hard enough. However, it could be that their performance is impacted by something outside of their control. This could be something along the lines such as illness or family issues. Be mindful about how you interpret employee performance. Make sure you aren’t making assumptions about what might cause poor performance.
The problem may be that you have not sufficiently communicated their expectations. Another reason could be the organization hasn’t provided adequate resources for its employees to achieve their goals. This will necessitate a deeper dive into what the causes may be.
When performance expectations are clear, managers need to take a closer look
When managers fail to clearly communicate expectations, they run the risk of losing their team’s trust and respect. This can be detrimental for both the manager and the employee.
For managers:
- Take a step back and examine your own behavior. Do you frequently provide mixed messages about what’s expected? If so, try clarifying your expectations with your direct reports through conversations or written documentation (if necessary). Your employees will appreciate knowing where they stand and what type of performance is acceptable. If a situation arises later on where an employee is not meeting expectations, take more time to explain why this might be happening before taking disciplinary action.
- Ask employees how they perceive their responsibilities within the organization and whether they think their job aligns with those responsibilities. You may find that there are areas where confusion exists. It is important for you to work through these issues in order for everyone involved to understand what’s needed from them. You want them to do their best work possible without feeling frustrated or stressed out by confusion surrounding expectations!
Conclusion
It’s important to remember that it may be easy for some managers to provide clear expectations from the beginning. Other managers may struggle with this process due to their own lack of clarity or resources available at their company. If you feel like your performance expectations aren’t being met, it’s important that you try everything in your power to help support them.
Learn more about this in our Setting Expectations Course. Sign up today!
