Clarifying Expectations

Over the last several weeks in this series, as well as through a few separate lessons in our Leading At The Next Level program, I’ve heavily stressed the importance of EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS and how doing that consistently puts us in a very small percentage of society. In the LinkedIn article I published recently, I shared something that Cindy and I discussed with a great group of leaders during our quarterly Executive Leadership Elite Think Tank session as we worked through ways business owners and executives could earn genuine buy-in to their organization’s mission and vision. I won’t hash all of that out here, but you’re welcome to check it out for yourself if you like…

Here’s the thing, taking the necessary steps to truly exceed expectations, whether that’s with the customers & clients we serve, the team we’re a part of or the organization that pays us, or the team and family members we’ve committed to lead earns a level of loyalty that’s rarely achieved otherwise. And quite honestly, I can’t really think of a company I admire or respect that doesn’t want to do just that! However, there’s no guarantee we’ll even meet expectations, let alone exceed them, unless we’re intentional about investing the time and effort required in order to have a very clear understanding of what each individual we’re interacting with actually expects from us!

So that seems simple enough, huh? Just make sure we’re working hard through each interaction and we’re sure to hit the mark! Unfortunately, that’s just not the case most of the time…

Truth be told, we need to have the answers to quite a few questions before any of that hard work nearly all of us are willing to do in order to exceed those expectations actually hits the mark. And before we even bother with any of those questions I’ll touch on shortly, we better make sure we’ve set the proper expectation for what we can even deliver. If you’re expecting meticulous grammar from a young, thin guy, at least one of us is in for some disappointment!

Once we’ve done everything in our power to specify the type of service we can provide, there can still be a significant difference between what we intend and what’s perceived - and in so many cases, perception truly is reality! This is where we have to be intentional about investing the time to ask the right questions if we have any hope of knowing exactly what each person expects. From there, we need to have some clarity regarding the lens they’ll be looking through when they’re on the receiving end of anything we deliver. We need to make sure that we’re extremely consistent (yeah, I’ve used that word a lot lately too…) in how we work to exceed their expectations. And we also need to make sure that each person on our team who’s involved in the process follows suit.

Since that’s a fairly comprehensive list, we’ll break each one of these things down for simplicity through the next few posts… Until then, I’m gonna share an invitation to join us for the February edition in our Intentional Action For Ongoing Growth complimentary webinar series where we cover How Top Leaders Set the Tone for Recruitment & Retention. This session has been approved for credit through the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). We’ll also be offering participants an exclusive discount on our newest digital course, Recruitment, Retention, & Culture, which has been approved for credit through SHRM & HRCI as well as the National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards (NAB/NCERS). There’s no cost to get access for the session on Feb 12 at 2:30p but you will need to register so we can provide you with the information you’ll need...