Constant State of Disappointment

A Constant State of Disappointment

High expectations inspire better performance and total outcomes. The sporting world is littered with examples to include the New England Patriots. Known for their culture of excellence, continuous improvement, and never being satisfied. Led by Bill Belichick’s high expectations, the Patriots won an unmatched six super bowl wins in twenty-years.

The Patriot’s mantra though is a replication of military boot camps and basic training. Boot camps run by Drill Instructors foster the environment where improvements are always striven for, where an individual becomes part of a larger team. Where a transformative change occurs in which they never achieve satisfaction. Continuous improvement remains the only goal.?

A constant state of disappointment, while it produces incredible feats of performance it creates its issues as well. If an Olympian or employee is never satisfied and always raising the bar, they will inevitably fail. They are always seeking validation against an unreachable goal, from a source that’s designed to never give validation.

Over Feedback

While feedback is a great thing, too much feedback creates a negative sense of never coming close to meeting expectations. The feedback system is designed to never let you get satisfied, to never rest on your laurels. But it must show that you are within reach of achieving them.

Some have a unique ability to always find fault. They spontaneously critique versus appreciate. If left unchecked, it can create a rapid-fire of feedback that penetrates the psyche of those it is intending to help.

Key is finding a good balance between positive and negative feedback. Not wanting to overwhelm people with too much to work on. This leaves the individual not knowing what to do or where to begin. The structures of performance reviews and corporate coaching miss the point of letting an individual focus and improve on just one thing at a time.

People’s Intentions

People want to do a good job. No one comes into a job wanting to fail. The workplace however typically falls short in getting new employees settled into their role. The new employees flail trying to get a win or a sense of belonging, typically their new employers give up on them before they can make any headway. This creates a constant state of stress for the new employee compounding the problem.

I call how we treat new employees as benign neglect. They need help understanding and meeting expectations. This means knowing what the expectations are and how to achieve them.

To achieve expectations, it takes effort on the manager’s part to spend time and coach new employees through the process. Yet, many managers simply don’t care enough to prioritize helping this transition. It takes significant time and effort. When they don’t put in the investment, it later blows up when not meeting hidden expectations. The manager then writes the employee off as incompetent and feels disappointed in their hire.

Desire to Succeed

If most people just don’t know how to do a good job, they need feedback. More than likely they want feedback. They may not know that they want or need it though.

Most groups have people trying to do a good job, they just might not know how to. Work today is nuanced, it is not straight forward. Lacking is good instruction and balanced immediate feedback

Never satisfied with the status quo is the model for success. Never becoming complacent is dependent on feedback. This comes also with recognizing success you’ve had that brought you to this point.

References

Dealing With Disappointment

Read More about Culture

Let 9m Facilitate Your New Culture