Setting expectations is crucial for your employees’ success and engagement. But why? Why is this important and why should you do this at your company? Well for starters, retaining employees is harder than ever right now. When you don’t set clear expectations, your employees will likely become frustrated with their unclear job duties as well as being caught off guard when told they are off track when they didn’t even know they had a track to start with. This will cause them to look elsewhere and cost your company with onboarding and training someone new. Expectations are also important from the company standpoint because when you define clear expectations, you can easily catch when an employee is off track and course correct. Read below for some tips on how you can set clear expectations from day 1.
Define expectations for the job BEFORE you hire someone. Having this prepared and ready to go when you find the right candidate will allow you to be organized and not have to do any last-minute scrambling. It also allows you to weed out anyone that wouldn’t be a good fit before you hire them!
Make the expectations SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timebound. By using this acronym, your expectations will be crystal clear and you and your employees will be aligned.
Have ongoing check-ins (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) to track progress: Having this ongoing communication between and employee and their manager regarding their expectations will help managers find gaps and address them sooner than waiting for the quarterly or annual review.
Praise: New employees love feedback, well any employee does! When managers frequently connect on expectations with their employees, it allows them to praise their employees when their doing great and aligning with the company. Don’t be afraid to recognize the small wins too!
Collaboration: Be willing to collaborate with your employees on their expectations. When they have a say in what they work on (to a certain extent of course), they will be more engaged, and you will have their buy in. It’s a win-win!
Try integrating some expectations around your company’s core values: This can help new hires especially get aligned with the culture quick which will then create a sense of belonging for them.
Build the habits with this phrase and remind yourself on the daily: “Inspect what you Expect.” Repeat the mantra until it becomes second nature. Cultivate your people and make some magic!
