Expectation setting is one of the most critical component found in leadership. Success rides on the back of clear expectations. If you have never gone through the exercise of setting expectations this will be an invaluable leadership process for you. I truly believe that all employees really do strive to meet the expectations of their leadership. I realize there are exceptions to the rule, but by in large it is true that employees naturally want to meet their bosses expectations. The problem is if you don’t provide clear expectations, then often the employee is simply going to fill in the blanks with what they think or perceive to be your expectations. This is often why employees rush or sacrifice safety for speed, because they feel that they must accomplish a task as quickly as experienced employees to measure up to their bosses expectations. This however isn’t generally the case. We rarely ever expect employees to hit the floor keeping up with people who have been doing the job for longer periods of time, but when we fail to clearly communicate our expectations the overall safety performance quickly generates a perceived work expectation in the mind of the employee that you may have never intended.
