Workplace Expectations
Leadership requires critical conversations. Expectations, whether Implicit or Explicit form the basis for most, if not all critical conversations. Many of the day-to-day expectations that govern how we show up at work are implicit and driven by the overlapping cultural spheres of regional geography, specific vocation, and the organization or company. While those can also require critical conversations (e.g. managing biases), I am focusing this article on expectations within a work unit (e.g. team, division) and more specifically on what is expected in terms of contributions. In my career I have struggled (and still struggle) with expectations, whether for myself, my team, my leaders, or my peers. The included graphic, “Are we there yet?” which we have all experienced either as children or parents or just travelers is an ironic reflection of what happens in the workplace and within us.
I have pulled together the following learnings which begin with defining expectations, understanding how to have a critical conversation and then with that foundation, being able to discuss how to delegate effectively. While framed for Leaders, within the current technology economy, all team-members/workers are Leaders in their contributions and the scope of the change they deliver and can benefit from these learnings.
What is being expected?
How to have that critical conversation?
How to delegate? (with expectations and support)
What is being expected?
So what is an expectation? Within the context of work (or life) it is a belief that someone will or should achieve something. A belief by its nature is unique to you, yourself even if it is for someone else to do something i.e. your view of what they should do is likely to be different from what will get done, assuming it is shared with them. Luckily we work in professional settings where expertise, experience, and professionalism allow us to express expectations in relatively abstract terms and achieve outcomes. That does not however take away the need to continue to get to specifics of an expectation. The more you share of the belief, the more likely that the expectation will get satisfied or re-shaped during the sharing for eventual resolution.
A higher order expectation such as the ones typically encountered at work are expressed as a goal or a set of goals. The following are two methodologies to specify a goal:
SMART goals are used at Amazon systemically to manage their businesses. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. While I have used goals for most of my Corporate career, Amazon in particular provided great practice in using SMART goals as a way to set, measure, and manage expectations at all levels.
Most Silicon Valley stalwarts use OKRs or Objectives and Key Results. The Objective is simply WHAT is to be achieved. Objectives are significant, concrete, action oriented, and (ideally) inspirational. KEY RESULTS (KRs) benchmark and monitor HOW we get to the objective. Effective KRs are specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic and importantly they are measurable. You can choose either SMART goals or OKRs to structure expectations.
Key Insight 1: Leaders encourage their teams to set and calibrate goals with the participation of the team, stakeholders, and the Leader. This allows buy-in and better management of the goal process. Insightful questions from others will allow goals to be realistic and yet stretch goals.
Key Insight 2: Most readers of this newsletter are high performing individuals. Excelling in all you do is an intrinsic expectation. Make sure to specify your expectations of yourself. See if you can use goals/OKRs for yourself to balance life and work and not drive to something elusive that is unattainable.
Resources:
10 SMART goals examples for your whole life Author: Madeline Miles
Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs. Penguin Publishing Group. Author: Doerr, John
How to have that critical conversation?
Establishing goals requires negotiating. A good Leader will want an attainable goal but one with a reasonable risk of failure. A team-member may well want to limit their risk of failure and not want an aggressive goal set for them. Similarly, stakeholders will have a perspective as well since their outcomes are likely dependent on the goal. Negotiating towards an outcome that is good for the individual and the organization is therefore a key part of the goal process. Once a goal is agreed upon, monitoring it routinely is important. If it is not trending well, a critical conversation (i.e. feedback) is required to bring it back to track or to recalibrate. Both are difficult conversations, in the sense that at least one or more of the parties to the conversations fear it.
Negotiations are a topic in and of itself. For the simpler purposes of routine or annual planning goals, I would highlight that one key takeaway for negotiations is being a patient and empathetic listener (yes even in high-stakes situations).
For the conversation itself, I summarize the following as the 3 steps for a critical conversation:
Understand your fear and identify likely outcomes: On the surface there are legitimate reasons to fear either negotiating or delivering/receiving feedback. For e.g. a Leader might fear that their team-member might leave if they negotiate hard or provide critical feedback. Similarly a team-member might fear disappointing news from their leader or worse, getting a bad review or even perhaps getting fired. These are typically our focus on the worst-case scenarios. It is the story we tell ourselves. The reality (let’s call it the likely scenario), is just a conversation with an opportunity to act on the conversation. A “desired scenario” is a reframe of the expectation and perhaps improved support to achieve it. One way to manage getting into the worst-case story is to elaborate (or write down) the worst, the likely, and a desired scenario. This simple exercise itself will clarify and help provide a path to the conversation.
Deliver your message - it is your accountability: Understand that as a Leader or as a team-member your accountability is to say what you need to communicate in a professional, and respectful manner. It is the responsibility of the other party to receive the communication and seek clarification and respond i.e. do not assume responsibility for the response. If a project has gone awry and you are discussing feedback, the first bad news is that the project went awry. The conversation itself is not the bad news and is in fact the path to resolution. In an exchange, it is also important to use yourself as the frame and use “I” statements when expressing feelings. If you are the Leader, you can also begin with asking where you could have stepped up to help more.
Create room to Listen: Once the message has been delivered, leverage silence to create space to allow the other person to speak and say their part. Silence is both respectful and allows the other person to process their thoughts and feelings in creating a response.
Resources:
The Art of the difficult conversation (1 hour webinar): Author: Nancy R Burger
Never Split the Difference: Author Chris Voss
How to delegate? (with expectations and support)
Growing as a Leader requires building delegation skills allowing you to lighten the load of your current responsibilities and focus on more strategic needs. It is also an opportunity to grow others in your teams. The learnings above set you up well for the additional steps on delegating. Here are a few insights on delegation. The podcast referenced from HBR gets into a lot more specifics and detail and is an easy listen.
Key Insight 1: What should you delegate?
Think broadly as you seek to delegate - this should be as much about lightening your workload as also growing the person you seek to delegate to. For e.g. something that feels routine now but was a stretch when you started, something that is fun but you want to reward someone else to be able to have fun as well, something that does not come naturally to you but is easy for another, and yes, develop someone more fully as you seek to broaden your own responsibilities.
Key Insight 2: Frame the expectation.
Early in my career, I was so scared of being a micromanager that I easily moved into what would be termed under-leading i.e. providing a lot of leeway such that expectations were unclear and created room for failure. I now understand that a good Leader/manager will put in effort into creating expectations that would allow an understanding of what success will look like. This in turn removes confusion on the part of the team-member and fear on part of the Leader such that micromanaging becomes less of a concern. This is time-intensive in the beginning but with iterations this becomes an easier process. Once the expectation is framed, ensure that accountability for the activity is with the team-member.
Key Insight 3: How to ask?
Each individual is different, as a Leader it shows consideration if you ask the team-member on what works for them. Do they prefer your being very direct or do they prefer a softer ask? This takes away style concerns about how you approach them. The framing of the expectation can then take place as a shared process.
Key Insight 4: Monitor, provide feedback, and offer help
Once you have delegated, it is the accountability of the team-member to deliver. Find a rhythm that works for you to monitor progress so you can provide feedback and can either re-calibrate or offer help.
Resources:
HBR Podcast: Delegating Effectively
