What Do YOU Expect?

So before we really dig into the specifics of those questions I outlined in the last post that we all need answered in order to EXCEED EXPECTATIONS on a regular basis, let’s take a look at one critical thing we each need to consider in this process.

Having hit on this idea of EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS from quite a few angles over the last several weeks, there’s been one common theme: nearly everything I’ve shared on the topic has been from a perspective of how this impacts so many levels of the teams we lead and the community we serve. While building this approach into our entire organizational culture, ensuring the company is known for exceeding expectations, can make a tremendous impact at so many levels, there’s one thing we need to really take ownership of to have any real hope of it ever becoming part of our team’s culture.

We need to take personal responsibility for exceeding the expectations of each individual we serve on a daily basis; not just our paying customers and clients, but our team members, our family members, and really anyone else we interact with!

Simon Sinek wrote a book several years ago called Leaders Eat Last. I love the premise of that book in that he built a great case for the importance of the leader making sure each team member has been served before they look out for their own interest. And therein lies the difference between so many with positions and titles who haven’t earned real leadership and the small minority who lead from where they are every single day. But when it comes to building a culture into the team we lead, especially when it involves something like EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS that such a small percentage of the population is willing to do, leaders don’t have the luxury of going last. This is where leaders absolutely must be a living, breathing example of what that looks like in any given situation!

But if we’re going to be the example that we want followed throughout our organizations, there’s a question we need to ask ourselves and be sure to answer with extreme clarity: What Do YOU Expect?

For now, let’s look at this as a Golden Rule question; what would we consider to be exceeding expectations in each scenario we’re faced with? If we were paying someone else to provide for us what we’re doing to serve the person we’re interacting with, what EXTRA value would we appreciate most? We’ll take this a few steps further through the Platinum Rule later on, but just developing this kind of clarity around how we view a situation can go a long way with how we choose to set the example for the team we lead!

Once we’ve become very clear in our message as to what others can always expect from us and we remain intentional about considering each situation based on what we’d expect from someone else, we can begin working through each of those questions I hit on last time. We’ll pick up there in the next post. Until then, I hope you can make plans to join us on Feb 12 for How Top Leaders Set the Tone for Recruitment & Retention! We’ve shared on this topic a few times before but I’m currently working on a complete overhaul so it will provide even more practical action steps you can apply right away in your own organization, regardless of the role you’re currently in!