The Power of Expectation Management

  • 1 min read

shutterstock_7542631-300x197My wife and I arrived at a very popular resort restaurant without a reservation last summer while on vacation. Our names were put on a list, we were given a pager and told the wait would be about 15-20 minutes.

With time to kill, my wife and I decided to visit the restrooms. On my way out of the restroom after only 10-12 minutes of waiting, my pocket began to vibrate.

Our table was ready.

I never had an experience like that.

I began to immediately feel betrayed and misled, wondering if this restaurant had sandbagged the process to set themselves up for success.

Typically, in my experience restaurant waiting is second only in frustration to waiting rooms in doctor’s offices and motor vehicle departments.

During our lunch I questioned my wife if she thought the restaurant had purposely set the expectation for a longer wait so that we would be pleasantly pleased when our pager went off sooner than expected.

So, what? I figured it’s not a bad way to operate, if you are consistently exceeding people’s expectations, is it?

Even better if you are consciously running your business to always exceed expectations.

Managing expectations is the key to many things in life, especially our own personal happiness.

Most upsets, conflicts, mis-understandings come from unmet expectations.

For that reason it’s best to manage expectations as directly as possible.

The only way to do so is on the front end of the situation.

One of the biggest causes of disappointment in the workplace is around unmet performance expectations.

This is mainly because expectations are not managed at the outset of the employer-employee relationship, or at the beginning of an employee’s performance period.

If expectations are clearly articulated and agreed upon at the outset, it’s easier to measure progress and discuss the actual observable performance that occurred without upset or hurt feelings.

Another example of managing expectations is around change management.

Trending around the web:

People resist change because of the false expectation and desire that change not occur. Yet, if one expects change to be the norm, it ceases to be an issue and the change can be managed more effectively with less stress.

If the expectation is that change isn’t the norm and shouldn’t be expected, resistance arises.

I’ve found it extremely useful in business and personal life to be proactive and manage my expectations in a way that always sets me up for a positive emotional experience.

I recommend you do the same.

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Skip Weisman

Skip Weisman, The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert, has worked with business leaders and their teams to transform both individual and organizational performance in industries from banks to plumbers since 2001. Skip’s experience helping his clients has shown that the biggest problems in workplaces today can be directly traced to interpersonal communication between people in the work environment. Having spent 20 years in professional baseball management, his first career in which he served as CEO for five different franchises, has given Skip tremendous insights and skills for build high-performing teams.  To help small business leaders create a championship culture with employees performance at the highest levels, Skip recently published this white paper report The Missing Ingredient Necessary to Improve Employee Performance. Download a free copy of this report at The Missing Ingredient Necessary to Improve Employee Performance. During a 20-year career in professional baseball management, Skip served as CEO for five different franchises. That experience gave Skip tremendous insight and skill for building high-performing teams in the workplace and championship cultures.

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