Expectations are the boss's business

 
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Human Resource Executive Online recently posted an interesting article titled: "Managing Turnover." Here's a quote from the article.

"Most employers do not fully understand why employees choose to leave their organizations. But to retain their best employees, HR leaders must make sure their organizations clearly communicate expectations about rewards, work and productivity -- and then deliver on the promise."

There's a fallacy here. Organizations don't really do anything. People do everything. And there are some people who matter more to workers.

At recruiting time, it's the recruiter. How he or she portrays the company has a big impact on whether you choose to hire on or not.

After that, it's your boss. It's not the CEO or the HR Department or some formless organizational specter. It's your boss. It's your boss's responsibility to set good expectations and then follow through.

Good expectations are clear and reasonable. If you're the boss, check for understanding and make sure the ability of your team member is up to the challenge. If you're the team member, speak up if you don't understand or if you need training, support or help to do what's expected.

Good expectations don't stand alone. Great bosses follow up to see if what's been agreed to is what's happening. Every occasion to touch base is an occasion to coach, counsel, encourage and correct.

Good expectations are just air without feedback. Feedback is, indeed, the breakfast of champions. If you're the boss, strive to give regular and helpful feedback. If you're the team member and need feedback, search it out.

Good expectations imply and demand consequences. Positive and negative consequences are some of the boss's tools to influence behavior and performance. Without consequences, expectations are just hope.

In the end, as with everything in business, it comes down to people. The things the "organization" does, including setting expectations are the result of the actions of lots and lots of people. And the most important one, in terms of morale and productivity, is your boss.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.

 
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Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

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Comments

  • 1/15/2008 8:43 PM Eric Pennington wrote:
    Great post!

    I ran into a former colleague some weeks ago and found out that he had just resigned that day. He told me that he resigned from his boss and not the company. He also told me he had taken all he could take. HR executives need to come back down to planet Earth and see reality. One of the biggest (research will back this up) reasons people leave is their boss. Leaders need face this grim monster.
    Reply to this
  • 1/18/2008 1:19 PM Shaun Kieran wrote:
    What surprised me when I first started consulting to workplaces was how much this stuff is true at all levels, including the highest - whereas I started out thinking that the lower end was where the interpersonal psychodrama was more prevalent.

    Bosses are hugely significant, emotion laden figures in the lives of all but a small number of our fellow humans. Handling that reality well, and nudging it toward being about the work, is a rare managerial skill.

    Yet another nicely succinct view of what really happens at work, Wally.
    Reply to this
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