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How to Set Clear Expectations For Your Team

Jason Walker PhD

· Business,Leadership,Jason Walker PhD,workplace

Leaders are not only tasked with guiding their business into a profitable future, but also with leading people that are involved in incredibly important tasks along the way. One of the best ways they can do that is by setting clear, irrefutable expectations about what’s needed in their business.

Someone might think that’s as simple as simply writing out a clear set of standards, but the process is slightly more involved in that; moreover, many U.S. employees state that they are given virtually no directions on how to accomplish their work.

Not only does the overall work suffer, but engagement among employees suffers as well whenever workers are not given clearly defined roles at work. People with set performance goals have much higher efficiency rates and less anxiety and confusion at work.

Bosses who want to define the goals for their employees can do so by utilizing a few key steps.

  1. Set a High Bar.

Rather than assume that employees are only going to do the minimum amount of work necessary to succeed, leaders should strive to set a high bar in regards to their employees’ output. By basing their goals on what top performers in the same field achieve, leaders will create a goal-oriented mindset that workers will seek to achieve.

  1. Make It Personal.

Leaders should resist the urge to simply issue a set of generic instructions to every person in their charge. Instead, they should look to cater to each person’s individual strengths and see what makes them unique and how they can deliver. When a person feels like their skills matter and that they get to work on what they are good at, productivity and satisfaction will increase.

As stated above, nothing kills efficiency faster than goals that are either muddled or not even stated by employers. Workers shouldn’t have to sit and guess at what’s expected; they should be able to walk in and know exactly what to set their hand to. As a manager, that’s part of the job description.

  1. Encourage Collaboration.

Instead of simply stating the goals, why not allow the workers to collaborate on what they feel should be done? Since they’re closest to the front lines, it makes sense to allow them to guide the process to a certain extent, with appropriate big vision perspectives coming from the manager.

This blog was originally published on JasonWalkerPhD.com