How to Get Things Done Through Others: Setting Employee Expectations

Even with unprecedented changes in how we work and lead, it doesn’t alter the fundamentals of leadership. You still have to get things done through others. How do you best do that? It’s by (1) setting specific and motivating expectations, (2) using good data collection techniques, and (3) delivering feedback that sticks. This blog, Setting Employee Expectations, is part one of my three-part series.

Setting Employee Expectations

There are three steps to setting a good expectation:

• What does good look like?
• Why is this important?
• What are the steps to get there?

1) What does good look like?

When it comes to expectations, many leaders make the mistake of thinking employees will know what they mean or that it is common sense. Unfortunately, employees will not know what you mean unless you are crystal clear and specific, and from my experience, there is no such thing as “common” sense. Common implies two people have had the same experiences, process things the same way, and/or share the exact same definition of what good is. Having one of those in common is a miracle—all three are impossible to share.

When defining what good looks like, I like to use a fill-in-the-blank approach. This expectation will meet my standards when… and I write out my answer. Details, details, details. You want to paint a fully formed picture in your employee’s head of what the finished outcome(s) will be. Think of it as a challenge to use as many of your five senses as possible. What will it look like, sound like, and feel like when done? Obviously as time goes by and certain expectations become repetitive, you can ease up on the details, but even then, a refresh of what good looks like won’t hurt your outcomes, and it often improves them.

2) Why is this important?

The human brain hates a vacuum. When left without information, people will make up their own reasons to do or not do something, and it’s not always beneficial to the desired outcomes of their leader. Ultimately, everyone has a greater need to understand the why. If an employee knows why (defined as the downstream and upstream implications of tasks and how they impact others), they will be more likely to put forth their best efforts. As with communicating what good looks like, the key with explaining the why is in the details. The difference is that explaining why is more about the emotional aspects. It’s really answering the question why an employee should care.

I have a great exercise in my leadership workshops to illustrate the importance of explaining why. I ask a participant to reach up as high as they can and put a piece of tape on the wall. I then bring out gift cards for a local restaurant. I explain how the food at the restaurant is not just good, it’s love. I add that I have enough gift cards for the participant as well as everyone at their table. I ask the participant to think of their table as their family and the gift cards as a way to provide for their family. I then ask the participant to try the exercise again, this time putting the tape higher than they did before.

Guess what? Without fail, the participant puts the second piece of tape about three inches higher than their first attempt. That visible difference comes from knowing the purpose and the why. It’s tapping into their discretionary effort, the reserve that we all keep, just in case. Knowing the why, especially in emotional terms, almost always leads to better results.

3) What are the steps to get there?

On every task all employees have a mixture of skill and will. How good are they at doing the task, and how much do they want to do the task? Rarely is an employee at the same level of skill and will from task to task. Ask me to put together a PowerPoint, and I will jump right on it and probably run circles around anyone else with my expertise. Ask me to put a spreadsheet together, and you will see me procrastinate and use some very outdated approaches and formulas. Should I be led the same way in both tasks? No. Yet, that is how many leaders lead, by formulating an opinion on an employee’s overall ability and motivation, and leading based on that one aspect.

At a minimum, every task should be broken into three steps: (1) what needs to be done, (2) how the employee should do it, and (3) when it needs to be done by. As a leader, no matter how skilled and motivated the employee is, you must communicate those three steps at the very least. If they are highly skilled and willed on a task, I will ask the employee rather than tell them, but the three pieces are always communicated or confirmed. If the employee is less skilled or I sense a lower level of will, then I will break the task down further, adding more pieces as needed. (See my previous blog on using the 3x3x3 model for breaking down problems.)

That’s it. These are the three steps to setting a good expectation: (1) communicating what good looks like, (2) explaining why it is important, and (3) examining what the steps are to get there. I guarantee the more time you spend thinking and articulating these steps, the better your employee’s outcomes will be.

In my next blog, we tackle the second part of my series on the fundamentals of leadership, Collecting Good Performance Data.

Steve Baue has more than 25 years of domestic and international experience in organizational development, human resources, and executive-level leadership. He owns Steve Baue, LLC, a consulting agency focused on helping leaders and organizations be themselves, but greater, and ERC: Counselors and Consultants, an employer benefit company helping lift the mental burdens that hold employees back from their full potential.