By: Art Petty
I recently committed the classic gaffe of assuming that I had reasonably set expectations for performance around a set of fast moving, first-time activities. These were both new to the team and new to the individuals. They had no prior experience in executing on these tasks.
The fact that I’ve worked with other professionals experienced with these very activities lulled me into a false comfort level. I naturally assumed things would go as they always had with the other groups, which was historically close to perfect.
When the results didn’t meet my very clear (to me) expectations, I became a bit agitated until it dawned on me that I owned this issue.
I completely failed to take into account the learning curve challenges for the group and I compounded the issue by failing to execute on my responsibility to teach and to set clear performance expectations. It’s unfair of me or anyone else as manager to assume that people automatically understand performance or coordination expectations without proper context.
I work with great people who have high standards of performance in their own right and they conquer every new challenge placed in front of them. However, they clearly need more support from their manager as a teacher instead of a critic or a passive observer.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Don’t make the same mistake(s). Talk with your team about expected outcomes. Discuss potential roadblocks and headaches. Redouble your efforts to support their efforts if the activities are pioneering ones for the group. Just don’t walk away expecting everything to line up nicely if you haven’t done your part of the job.
See this and other newsletter articles at http://amt-mep.org/files/7613/9955/0659/2014-05.pdf
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