Improving HR | EXPECTATIONS

THE BIG IDEA

We talk about EXPECTATIONS a lot in HR, particularly in terms of performance management. We talk about?“Meets expectation”, or?“Below expectations”

(the plural, it seems, is completely optional)

But do we really know what we mean when we use the word:?Expectation?

As I put the finishing touches to my interactive development course,?Influencing for Human Resources, I have to say that I’m more convinced than ever that we really don’t.

For example, in the performance management process, we’ll discuss goals and objectives and, in rare cases, the measures by which we’ll know these have been delivered. Yet we rarely use?“Delivered Goals”?as the summary of the annual performance management discussion.

When we say?“Expectations”?we mean something more than getting things done.

Or the case of a person who delivers all their goals but damages team morale in order to do it…

“Meets Expectations”?or?“Below Expectations”?

Why?

The answer is, of course, a matter of opinion – and of local norms.

So, when it comes to Expectations, we’ve now added in BOTH a behavioral element

(i.e. HOW the person does their work)

and a organization cultural element

(i.e. what is and is not acceptable in order to get the job done)

Now, overlay all this ambiguity with the notion of career growth and performing above/below/at current level. If I over-deliver in a year, am I guaranteed a promotion, or is it unreasonable to have that Expectation?

Note, I’m not playing a semantic game here – we use this term ambiguously all the time

(and, in fact, demand its use within our processes and procedures)

and it’s really important that we understand what we’re talking about.

So, let’s ignore what we already think we know, and go back to basics. First, the dictionary!

Expectation

• the act or the state of expecting:
• to wait in expectation.
• the act or state of looking forward or anticipating.
• an expectant mental attitude:
• a high pitch of expectation.
• something expected; a thing looked forward to.
• Often expectations; a prospect of future good or profit:
• to have great expectations.
• the degree of probability that something will occur

Immediately, we can see that the definition is ambiguous and strongly rooted in mental attitude towards the future – i.e. how we feel about something that hasn’t happened yet.

And it’s right here that I’m going to ask you to re-read that last sentence.

Because that’s the root of our problem: we are using Expectation wrongly, as a reference point for past activity

(and, therefore, inferring that the expectation was clear BEFORE the activity happened)

Given the heavy reliance upon the term, I would argue that we should be already be adept at setting and measuring expectations.

But it doesn’t take a weapons-grade cynic to admit that we are very far from this – even if our performance management process suggests it’s as neat and easy as cascaded executive goals.

TRY THIS

So, let’s build from those basics and ask:?how do we set an expectation?

I got a small , but significant, piece of the answer in the mid-2000s on a group call with Stephen MR Covey, discussing his book,?The Speed Of Trust.

Covey described a virtuous cycle to build trust:

While this is very simplistic, it is profound in application. Why? Because we make assumptions about what people will do… ALL THE TIME!

For example, have you ever been dinged for not responding to an email because the person had a read receipt on it? That, right there, is an example of an assumed commitment –?“You will respond when you receive my email”.

Expand that example a little, and think of all the times you’ve been BCC’d on an email in a game of CYA or organizational politicking with zero guidance on what you’re being asked to do with the email.

Like it or not, we are always assuming a commitment. And that assumption is where we… you guessed, build an expectation.

Said differently:

Expectations become concrete when they are based upon a commitment.

As an aside, such assumed commitments are a large part of why executive goal cascade doesn’t work so well. It’s a major blind-spot for any organization to assume that all workers are, in their day-to-day activities, committed to their executive leader’s individual success. And, even if they want to be, exec goals will often be completely alien to the commitments that workers CAN deliver.

The Speed of Trust is a really useful read, and I highly recommend it, but away from the specific building of trust, the cycle above is really powerful in discussing goals and objectives and, consequently, setting expectations.

USE THIS

Let’s break the cycle apart and think of it in steps:

Make Commitment

There are 2 factors at play here:

1. WHAT do you commit to do?
2. HOW do you commit to do it?

In the first, we’re obviously talking about objectives, so SMART goals come to mind, with a specific focus on the outcome that will be achieved. In terms of expectation, the outcome is the thing.

In the second, we’re into the more nebulous world of behaviors, and it’s rarely a good thing to legislate how people must act

(unless it’s a standards-based role, such as safety/compliance)

Better here to focus on the landscape of negative expectation – i.e. what will NOT happen. For example, achieve your sales targets but do NOT poach your colleague’s clients.

Deliver Commitment

Not so much to say on this one in terms of expectation-setting here, except that there is a reverse expectation that you will support delivery – for example, setting sales targets for phone-based reps and then not giving them a phone!

Tell Someone

Building strong feedback networks around tasks is the trick here – both formal monitoring and behavioral anecdotes

(Note: we’re not looking for happy-sheets, but rounded developmental feedback that helps someone grow their contribution)

At the individual level, I encourage managers to use the following framework for check-ins:

1. What was the challenge?
2. What alternatives did you consider?
3. What did you do?
4. How did you do it?
5. What was the result?
6. What did you learn for next time?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools”?~ Confucius

BOOKS BY VINCENT TUCKWOOD

HR JOBS

Post yours for free and I’ll share it with my 5,000+ HR network

CLICK HERE