Removing All Doubt…

As we looked at all the profitability that’s killed through poor communication, I suggested that breaking the golden rule just may be an approach that makes a positive impact. If you’re tracking with me on exactly how that would help, I’d suggest you circle back to that.. Assuming that’s relatively fresh in your mind though, let’s push forward with a few specific things we can to set extremely clear (and high) expectations to produce the results our organizations need to thrive. 

In looking for resources that offered insight on this to support the hands-on experiences I’ve had personally, I found an article called Cultivating a Culture of Clear Expectations and Accountability that Equips and Empowers from CUInsight.com, a peer group for credit unions, that shared this:

Leaders are ultimately responsible for setting expectations, effectively communicating those expectations, and developing accountability standards. Not only are leaders responsible for setting clear expectations, but those expectations must be realistic. Metaphorically speaking, unrealistic expectations are equivalent to running on a hamster’s wheel, going nowhere fast. This parallel is valid for workplaces, where employees with no expectations and accountability are completing repetitive and unfulfilling tasks that produce zero to minimal growth. This type of behavior leads to disengagement and is toxic to any organization.

The next profitability killer we’ll be addressing is accountability so I’ll skip that for now… So let’s look specifically at “setting expectations and effectively communicating those expectations” and the piece emphasizing that “those expectations must be realistic.” Far too often, I’ve seen folks in leadership roles be reluctant to communicate expectations that could be perceived by their teams as too high out of concern of seeming unrealist. I suppose I can understand that but I’ll challenge you to write something off as unachievable simply because the bar appears to be set high!

If we can effectively break the golden rule with each individual on our teams and provide them with the style of communication THEY need to clearly understand our expectations, for the action we need them to take as well as the results we need them to achieve, we should have a solid foundation in place. When it comes to setting expectations that are high but still realistic, I’m convinced it comes down to tying them to a purpose that tugs at the heart strings of each member of our team. As with improving employee engagement, having a purpose that means something to each of us AND makes an impact that’s bigger than any one of us can earn a level of effort that’s rarely given in an attempt to hit some moderate goal. I’ll say it once more for emphasis, people don’t shy away from work because it’s hard or because the pay is too low; they shy away from things that don’t have purpose!

I truly believe that leaders who fail to set high expectations and communicate them clearly to their teams are indeed creating a culture that can be toxic to the organization. But when we do those two simple (but not always easy) things, we remove all doubt about WHAT is expected and WHY it matters. Then we just need to maintain those expectations consistently and across the board so before moving on to accountability, we’ll tie all this together by addressing that need for consistency…