Have you ever assigned a project to a team member only to have the end results be something completely different from what you expected? You may have had a clear vision of what success looked like. Except what you got wasn’t what you wanted.
The immediate thought is to blame the employee. They were lazy. Or they didn’t listen. Maybe your mind wanders to the thought that they were trying to sabotage you.
The truth is that the employee didn’t fail the assignment. They failed to read your mind.
Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash
Leaders frequently fail to set the proper expectations because they feel others should know what they’re expecting. Your team can’t know what you’re expecting if you don’t set the expectations.
The good news is that you don’t need ten pages of documentation to set expectations. You can set expectations in as little as 30 minutes. What does that look like? Keep reading to find out.
4 Steps To Set Expectations In 30 Minutes
You can quickly set expectations. And not in a lot of steps. Here are the four steps and the time frame to set those expectations.
Step 1: Define the final outcome & metrics (10 Minutes):
Instead of listing tasks, you have to start with the end in mind: Define the outcome. You want to make sure your team member knows what you see as a successful outcome. They also need to know what metrics their work will be measured against.
Here are some things to consider covering:
- What is the primary objective? What does it matter?
- What are the deliverables you expect? Do you need a fully-functional dashboard or a prototype? Is there a report? How many pages?
- How will success be determined? What metrics are you going to use? What is acceptable? What key results are you looking for?
Step 2: Paint a picture of “good.” (7 Minutes):
Your team members won’t know what good is unless you show them what good looks like. They probably have an idea of good in their mind. Their idea probably differs from yours. You have to paint the picture of good.
Here’s what you need to cover in the 7 minutes you have:
- Provide a few examples of past work that was good or acceptable
- Share what made those examples great
- Define acceptable and exceptional
When you paint the picture of good, your team knows what they need to shoot for. Give them the right target.
Step 3: Establish constraints and decision rights (8 Minutes):
Constraints are like boundaries. No one likes them but they make things better.
When you provide constraints, you help prevent wasted effort, micromanagement, and distractions. The constraints put your team members on the right path.
Some things to consider when sharing constraints:
- What’s the budget and resources for the project?
- Who makes the decisions? Can your team members make every decision, or are there aspects you need to sign off on?
- What is off-limits? You may have attempted a similar project. You can put constraints to avoid previous approaches, topics, etc…
Step 4: Set the check-in dates and ask: “What’s your understanding of the first step?” (5 Minutes):
You’ve set the expectations but now you need to set the check-in plan.
Why do you want to do this? If there’s no touchpoint or check-ins before the end of the project, you’ll never see the work until the end. That can create a mess that takes even more work to clean up.
Here’s what to cover:
- What are the milestone dates?
- How should communication be handled?
- When should a problem be escalated to you?
You’ve now got a solid base for setting expectations. Your team members will know what you expect, examples of good, constraints, and a timeline or check-in plan. With these clearly laid out, your team members won’t have to read your mind. They’ll know what you want and be able to execute on it.
Let’s make those expectations clear!
