5 Steps To Set Clear Expectations

Why is setting expectations important?  If your staff know what is expected of them, it allows them to focus on results and to monitor themselves against the set standards.  Environments in which expectations are not clear, or change from week to week, seldom create high-performing work groups.


The following are five steps to use to set and communicate clear expectations:

1) Focus on Outcomes; 2) Define Roles; 3) Monitor; 4) Provide Feedback; and 5) Reinforce.

1. Focus on Outcomes.  Expectations should focus on outcomes, not activities. In other words, you achieve clarity when you identify the expected results rather than the method for achieving them. Managers often make the mistake of attempting to direct the process that staff will use rather than being clear about results.

Defining the objective often requires some thought on the part of the manager because it is easy to fall into the "activities trap".

2. Define Roles. Clearly outlining and explaining the role of each team member, including key job responsibilities, is necessary at the outset. When setting expectations for staff, it is important to define your own role as a leader as well. Explicitly state that you expect to be a resource, if you want them to know that you are available to assist with problems.
 
3. Monitor. Monitoring is the follow-up that the manager provides after expectations have been set. It can take many forms, from a formal status-review meeting to a casual conversation in the hallway. Regardless of the form, monitoring is the component that indicates that the project or assignment is important to you as a manager and that you are interested in its outcome. It enables you to assess the progress and assist if unexpected roadblocks emerge.

4. Feedback.  Feedback is the process of communicating what is working well and what needs improvement. Focus on progress, any course corrections that may be required, and the subordinate's view of the project. It is key to allow employees to debrief their experience. As the leader, you will be in a better position to evaluate not only their progress, but also what future responsibilities they may be able to undertake.

5. Reinforcement.  Rewards or consequences come into play to provide either positive or negative reinforcement.

Certainly, you want to reward a positive outcome. Rewards can take a number of forms, but regardless of the type, they should be timely, specific, and relevant to the employee. Consequences also should be timely and specific while focusing on how the employee can improve performance.

While giving negative feedback often is uncomfortable for many managers, on-the-job behavior is shaped by both circumstances and consequences. If there is no downside to poor performance, it is difficult for managers to raise the performance bar for any of their staff.

Work That Matters

Michael Bungay Stanier, who wrote the book, Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work that Matters., believes that all work falls in one of three buckets:

1. Bad Work consumes time and energy, and makes no difference.
2. Good Work that you do most of the time, and do it well.  The problem -- it's endless, and it's comfortable, which keeps you spinning your wheels in routine and busyness, as you just get through each week.
3. Great Work is meaningful, challenging, lights you up and matters to you. 

What kind of work are you doing, most of the time? 

If you're like most people, on average, you're doing Bad Work 0-40% of the time, 40-80% of your time doing Good Work, and 0-25% on Great Work.

Check out this YouTube video for a quick overview.

How can you do more Great Work?  Here are three tips that I believe in and fully endorse:

• Create Projects.  See all great work as projects.  Abandon your job description and focus on creating projects where you are focusing on your best work.
• Define 3 Things Daily.  Define three high-impact actions you will take each day, and focus on them. Having a long "To-Do" list completed daily isn't effective if you haven't accomplished what matters most. At the very least, define one thing that you really will do. The other two can be gravy, bonus tasks that you'll be happy if you get to them and if you don’t, you won’t beat yourself up about it.
• Create Great Work Space. Great Work requires a different type of thinking, so create a different kind of space for it. The space can be a coffee shop, a meeting room, another office space, the cafeteria, a library. Find another space to do your Great Work.  Changing the context will change the way you work.

I'll be interested to hear about your success doing more Great Work!

3 Success Tips to Stay On Track

I read an article about attaining career New Year Resolutions, related to the recent theme in the Lounge -- taking consistent action towards your outcomes gets results. The advice is to:

“make goals you wish to achieve by the end of the year and strategize the steps you'll need to take in order to get there. Instead of squeezing yourself to 'resolve' things quickly, spread out the commitments and proceed at a manageable pace, with benchmarks to understand and celebrate your progress. Steady progress is made and the stated goal has an excellent chance to be achieved."

I particularly like the following 3 success tips to stay on track in the New Year:

1. Eat the frog! "Mark Twain said if you eat a frog first thing in the morning that will probably be the worst thing you do all day. So, start your day by tackling an important task, especially if it is a task you aren't crazy about."

2. Concrastinate. "If procrastinating means putting things off, concrastinate should be doing things immediately. Work in 15 minute increments. If there is a task you don't like, set a timer and do it for 15 minutes. At the end of 15 minutes, you will be amazed at how much you've accomplished. At that point, either stop or if you have built up some momentum, keep going."

5. Plan it. "A few minutes of planning can save you hours of time. Either first thing in the morning or at the end of the day, take a few minutes to plan. It doesn't have to be a long formal process, just jot down the things you want to do that day (or the next if you do this at the end of the day)."

How have you experienced these success tips in action? Post your comments and share your success.

Measuring Relevant Results to Achieve Outcomes

Reviewing my results from 2009 resulted in an awakening to the fact that what I was measuring was not relevant to my desired outcomes. In one instance, I was measuring the action steps I committed to take to further my progress towards an outcome. However, I was not relating the progress to the overall desired outcome to see if it was actually working.
“Unless you measure your results you don’t know if or how it’s working.”

– from “Coach breaks through barriers”, by Rich Spence, Financial Post

It’s what you do with the measures that is important.

In retrospect, if I had a checkpoint to see how my action was contributing towards the results I wanted to see, I could assess how it was working. If I had refined my action plan, to take additional action steps consistent with my desired outcome, I would have had a better chance of getting the results I intended.

I have now applied this learning and put more thought and effort into defining my 2010 desired outcomes, with relevant measures of success. My intention is to take action steps aligned with my desired outcome, measure my progress towards them; then assess what’s working, and decide how I can align further action steps to be consistent with my desired outcomes, to get results.

Coaching Challenge: 

What results do you want to realize in the year 2010? How will you know you’re making measurable and relevant progress? Personal accountability strengthens when you share your commitment wtih an accountability partner. Share your 2010 commitments by sending me an e-mail to Sylvia at SylviaGoodeve dot com.

How to Get Results

I just returned from the International Coach Federation (ICF) Conference in Orlando, inspired to create a greater impact through results-based coaching.

 

This is a quotation from a leader of one of the workshops I attended, on Accountability:

  

"Taking action consistent with your desired outcome for your life, career or business gets results". - Mark Samuel

When I consider results I have attained recently, it is a result of applying these 4 principles:

1. Being clear on my desired outcome,
2. Setting a clear measure that defines success,
3. Being focused and taking action in line with my desired outcome,
4. Measuring how I’m progressing toward my desired outcome.

Considering areas where I have not attained the results I wanted, it clearly is due to a break down in applying at least one of these 4 principles.

Coaching Challenge:  For the results you want to see in your life, career or business, answer these questions:

 

How will you become clear about your desired outcome?

What measure(s) defines success for you?

What action(s) do you commit to take, consistently?

How will you measure progress towards your successful end-result?

Share your commitment by sending me an e-mail, or comment on this post. Personal accountability strengthens when you share your commitment with someone else.

3 Top Tips to Overcome Overwhelm

Overwhelm is rampant these days, as we are all asked to do more with less. 

Here are three practical tips for dealing with overwhelm, to focus on what really matters, and see tangible results each day:

1. Decide what is really important. Focus on projects or goals that really matter.  If possible, put less important projects aside for the time being, or take them off your plate completely.  Scattered thinking and associated feelings of overwhelm will begin to subside once you have decided to focus on what really matters. To keep your projects or goals front of mind, post them in a visible place that you will see throughout each day.
2. Chunk it down.  You make progress day by day, step by step.  Take a step each day towards your goals.  Make a list of the top 3 actions you will take, each day, that will make the most difference in achieving your goals. Put these 3 actions first, and address them before you do anything else. No checking e-mail; no getting distracted surfing the internet! Put First Things First.
3. Measure what matters.  You have identified what is really important.  You take actions towards your goals each day.  Now track your progress towards those goals. There is always a way to quantify your progress, if you are clear on the ultimate outcome. Review your progress, each day, each week, each month. You will soon see how you are achieving more, with less.