Setting expectations based on skills

- Have you ever had a boss who had expectations of you and your team but you could never seem to figure out what they were? Or worse, you realized your boss had expectations that they didn't share, so you fell short of goals you didn't know you had to meet. In these moments, staying in sync with your boss can feel like a frustrating and demotivating guessing game. But when skills-based performance expectations are in place, these can empower, amplify, and ignite a team to achieve great things. Expectations should focus on measuring progress of applying skills to deliver on business outcomes at the individual level for your team members. Setting expectations involves reflecting on your team's vision and strategy and determining business goals and outcomes, breaking down team roles and responsibilities and identifying the skills and the skills gaps for each person, and determining which skills and focus areas will make the biggest impact in an employee's performance. Go through these steps on your own before engaging your individual team members. This will enable you to communicate your expectations more clearly with each person. That said, all managers encounter challenges when setting expectations, like how do I ensure my expectations aren't too high or too low? Expectations should always be set based on the role, role level, and team objectives. So ask yourself, are your expectations based on the employee's skills and experience? Are they realistic and achievable? And it's always helpful to seek feedback from peers or HR, especially those who work with people in a similar role or level if you don't have enough information. You might also ask, how do I make sure outcomes are clear while also setting skill or behavioral expectations? Well, both the what people achieve, their results, and how they achieve them, the skills and behaviors, are part of the expectation setting. Beyond the results, define skills and behaviors that are most important for success and outline the results and behaviors together so that you can speak to them at the same time. For example, if your company values being open, honest, and constructive, share examples of this behavior alongside the expected results. Highlight how this value will help your employee and their partners solve complex problems together and make the result more likely. Lastly, you might ask, how do I communicate my expectations in a compelling way? Well, one approach is to share stories and examples. Be specific about how the expectations will drive business impact, connect to your company's vision, and lead to a personal growth and career advancement for your employee. Focus on the benefits of meeting expectations and the strength your employee will draw upon to build their skills. Use positive language, like by honing your communication skills, you'll be able to build stronger relationships with your colleagues and contribute more effectively to team projects, ultimately leading to greater success for the entire team. Setting and even resetting expectations should be done as often as necessary to ensure you and your employee are on the right track. In the rest of the chapter, we'll discuss how you and your team member can set specific and actionable skill-based goals, break them down into smaller, more manageable tasks, and how you can provide regular feedback.