Here's how you can handle unrealistic or unattainable expectations from your boss.

Not all leaders are good at providing clear direction. In such cases, it becomes your responsibility to ensure that you clearly understand their goals and objectives. It may also be necessary to clearly explain what you need to produce positive results or problems that may impede the plan. The better you can communicate with your boss the more they are likely to trust in you.

Making sure both the leaders and employees fully understand expectations is critical. Leaders must also ensure that their employees understand the "why" behind these goals and what's at stake if they are not met. Open communication is key. When given an expectation, an employee should work with their leader to break down what steps are going to be needed in order to successfully meet the goal by the end of the goal period.

Expectations and goals are a key components of visionary leadership. Effective visionary leaders must be clear, concise, and enlist the support of their team. The team must buy into the vision and be willing to commit to achieving it. A good example is a professional sports league coach. These leaders are hired to take their team to excellence and ideally a championship. Is this realistic? Of course not, there can only be one champion. What to do if your leader sets the goal of excellence but doesn’t have the necessary team members and skills to achieve the goal? The way I personally managed these situation was to either lead, follow, or get out of the way. No matter the choice always give your very best effort!

When dealing with a boss that has expectations, make sure that you both understand what is at stake, what are the goals and what are the risks. This allow you both have ownership in the solution as well as the problem. This foundation that will allow you to communicate with strength. Follow by making sure that he has what he needs to feel that both of you are in command of the solution. Remember, every leader is different some may only want a general understanding while others will want all of the minutiae. Make sure that you are always prepared to give an answer in depth with honest unflinching clarity. If you don't have this type of rapport with your boss then perhaps it's time to consider a different employment opportunity.

Start with doing what has to be accomplished. Then you have to know your boss but then you start what else they want and do it to the best of your ability. If you are trying then your boss will be happy and usually lead you in the right direction.

Depending on a person’s role you may receive work that is ongoing and critical plus new projects that have end dates. An important question to ask your boss is “What is the priority? If they say the ongoing tasks, then make them aware the project may not get done as quickly if you could focus fully on it. This dialogue from the start sets the right expectations. If the project is priority then the recurring tasks will need be scaled back or given to another team member, especially if the new project is skill specific and only you can do the work.

It’s important to ensure meeting goals while maintaining a work life balance. Sometimes projects assigned cannot be done within the specified time frame. In this case have a conversation with your manager. Let that person know on a very specific and granular level what work the project involves. You are the expert and need to let them know what is realistic. If they still want something quickly, as an option, let them know the work will be a first iteration with the plan to keep improving on it. The other option is delivering the work in stages. And in some cases, you can offer a change in the request with a comparable solution that may take less time.