When working with others, clearly defining and monitoring your expectations is the key to strong, healthy and productive relationships.

I remember when I the first year I worked as a commissioned sales rep. The company said they expected the reps to meet face to face with at least 20 new people a month and to have an opening discussion with the perspective buyer. At the end of the first month I had only met with 17 new people and was a little down on myself. I walked into the sales managers office and dejectedly told him that I had only met with 17 and braced myself for a “shape up or ship out” talk. Instead to my utter astonishment he congratulated me on a stellar month. I incredulously asked, “But I was supposed to meet 20 new people.” He proceeded to inform me that no one in years had seen 17 people in a month. I was flabbergasted.

What makes companies do stuff like that? Do you think I ever hit the 20 mark again in all the years that I was with that Company? Of course not! It wasn’t a real expectation and the monitoring process didn’t insure that it would get done.

If the expectation is clearly defined and monitored people will respond to the expectation.

I once worked as a corporate trainer for a Fortune 100 Company. When speaking to sales people that were floundering I often asked that if there sales manager had told them they have a minimum production the first quarter or they would need to find a different place of work, how would that expectation have affected their performance. Everyone I asked that to said they would have performed far better. Most thought they would have been able to meet the production quota to boot.

When you are working with others set clear expectations, monitor those expectations and congratulate them when they are met. You will be astonished at the results.

So let’s investigate the right way to define, communicate and monitor expectations for the best results possible. The idea of creating expectations is really another way of saying you have a standard. As a manager, owner, or supervisor it is you obligation to communicate that standard (expectations) well and make sure that the employee takes ownership of that standard. If the standard is not met there needs to be a feedback method (consequence) that will insure adherence to the standard.

Let’s take a simple example. You are a manger and an employee has a tardiness problem. Can you see the earlier this problem is dealt with and clarified the less it will be a problem. If the employee is told that tardiness is not acceptable and comes in every day the next week late and no one says anything again, then even though an expectation was set, it was not monitored and the tardiness will continue. However, if the employee comes again the next day late and the manager makes it clear that the next time it happens they will need to find a new position at a different company. What is the possibility that the employee will come in lat e the next day. And if they do come in the next day late what are they saying about how much they think about the position and company. The employee at this point owns their behavior and the consequences must be followed through. The employee must be terminated. Anything less will cause a total weakening of the company. (By the way this was the employee’s decision, not the managers.)

Now I am not talking about the problem of tardiness. This is just an example of the importance of setting and monitoring real expectations. If tardiness is not an issue that is important to your company and people work flex time it should not be an expectation. However there clearly is a need for expectations on all aspects of the company.

This is critical for the Uncommon Leader. Expectations must be set clearly and monitored regularly. A good practice is for manager and employee to meet weekly to review the behaviors that are expected in the next week. It might be volume of work, sales calls, follow up calls, bookkeeping, etc. Clearly define the objective and desired behavior. Monitor the following week and make sure everything was done correctly. If it was congratulate and recognize the work with gratitude and praise. If it wasn’t, find out why and reset new expectations for the following week. Make sure the expectations are realistic and achievable. You must also have a buy in from the employee. Clearly define the consequence of meeting the expectation and of not meeting the expectation. If the expectations are realistic and doable and they are still not being met on an ongoing basis, it is not the employees fault. It is management’s fault. The expectations and standards are not clear enough and the employee does not trust that management will enforce the standard and consequences. This is where leadership on the part of management is critical.

In general, people respond to expectations pretty well. It is both in business and home life. Expect the best from all your relationships and you will find that you usually experience your expectation. Expect to be let down, cheated on and scorned, chance are that is also what you’ll experience. Just communicate and monitor those expectations.

Expectations are the tool of getting great productivity out of valuable employees and are the rules of engagement for great relationships.