The PEACOCK Setting Expectation Framework

If you work in a team, you will have to set expectations and you will also be expected to meet expectations. Picture this too common situation: Paul was due to email you the new code inspection process proposal yesterday. Today is already 3pm and no sign of the new process! Does it sound familiar? What happened? Did Paul forget? Below is the PEACOCK framework that I use to set expectations with no bad surprises, unlike with Paul.

Prepare

If you are unclear on what you expect in our own mind and how to express it, it will be pretty difficult for the requestee(s) to make sense of what you are asking. You do not want to be vague and wing it. Setting essential expectations is no time to improvise and you want to articulate it to yourself first, with complete clarity. Contrasting using practical examples can prove useful to determine unambiguously what is an appropriate result and what is not. To help with clarity, you may want to write it down and, as you read it to yourself, you will realize whether it is understandable or not. You want to prepare to provide the background, reasons and why you are making this particular request.

Explain

As you explain it, keep in mind your requestee(s), their personality and communication preferences and tailor your message accordingly. Avoid using acronyms that may not be known and make sure you use a vocabulary and terminology that is not ambiguous for the requestee(s). As you state the request, take into account the context, the reason for the request and how it benefits the company and also what is in it for the requestee(s) doing the work. What is the best way to communicate effectively so that the requestee(s) understand(s) and buy(s) into your request? Are you talking to a visual person and would a drawing help to provide clarity? Are you talking to a task oriented person that needs the details of the end result and possibly intermediate steps? or is it an experienced person who would thrive figuring out how to achieve the request if you can paint her the vision and what success looks like in broad strokes?

Agree

After presenting what you expect, give the requestee(s) a chance to raise questions, have a conversation, ask for clarifications or more information?to ensure both of you agree on what is being asked and the person(s) commits to make it happen. As you have presented and explained what you expect of her, also set the expectations on how you can help them achieve it, what type of support or help is available from you or other people in the organization. Share the boundaries and limits of authority to carry out the request. The agreement includes when the request is due and when and how you are going to follow up and track progress. It may be through emails or regular status meetings. At this point, you had a conversation, you answered questions and you gained verbal agreement. In other words, there is a reciprocal verbal commitment and agreement to meet the expectation. As this stage, you obtained buy-in.

Confirm

After agreeing, ask for confirmation in written form that there is total understanding on what is to be done and by which date. Adding more formality using the written form is necessary when the expectation will require more than a few days to be achieved. Writing down the agreement for a confirmation reply provides a number of benefits:

• We tend to forget things and it allows you or the requestee(s) to refer back to it when in doubt about particular aspects of the request. Written words are your ally as they are stronger than the best memory.
• As a secondary benefit, it helps you cover your back if things are not being met, for example with a third party and where there may be legal implications.

The requestee(s) will respond to the email confirming that you are both on the same page. It gives you another opportunity to clear out any remaining misunderstanding.

On with it

Once the expectation have been set, agreed and confirmed verbally and in writing, you want to get out of the way and remove distractions to give the necessary space and time for execution. Do not come back with other asks and conflicting priorities confusing the requestee(s).

Check-in and review

You may have set high expectations, then walked away and never checked back until there's a fire burning too big to be extinguished. To avoid the flames being out of control, as time goes by, you want to have some regular check-ins to ensure that everything is on track as per the agreement or at least have regular updates. As the saying goes “what gets scheduled gets done”: it is useful to mark in your calendar when you have a check-in or a status update to make sure it happens. You want to listen carefully at what is being said and not said to assess the real picture on how it is progressing. It is mechanism to find out and address unexpected obstacles that got in the way for the requestee(s), preventing the expectation to be met.?If you do find roadblocks have come up, you will want to see a plan to overcome them. You can give feedback to get back on track if things started to deviate.

Keep doing it

Congratulations, you can celebrate as your expectation has been met! It is time to follow the same cycle for setting other expectations, incorporate what you learned in the process to tweak and finetune it, if necessary, to ensure setting and meeting expectations is even smoother the next time.

In summary, expectations being met are not a one-time event. They are the result of a multi-step process. What framework do you use to set expectations? What works for you? And what tends to trip you and derail the expectation from being met?