The Power of Expectations

Expectations drive businesses around the world.  Customers go to a business with a need or a problem, expecting a solution.  Businesses develop a new product or service with the expectation of earning a profit.  Over time, your customers develop expectations about your products or services.

Also, there is a set of expectations inside your business – maintained by your managers and employees.  Each employee has a specific set of goals and tasks that their manager expects them to accomplish.  Your employees will be the most productive when managers understand and act upon the expectations their employees have of the support that they need to accomplish assigned tasks.  What else do employees expect from their managers?

Managers, by definition, are there to be more than a drill sergeant.  The best managers are available to help guide employees through difficult tasks and are available for questions and support.  Employees quickly lose respect for managers who are continually disengaged, incorrect, or arrogant and yet still apply pressure to meet the expectations that they set.  A disengaged manager can fuel missed deadlines, shoddy work, and poor customer service.

Employees have wildly different expectations of their leaders depending upon their role in your business, even from department to department.  The finance team may not be particularly interested if their managers can fix a roller on the assembly line, but they do expect them to know what the cash flow is from each department and whether or not the average gross margin of the business has deteriorated this quarter.  There will be a myriad of expectations, such as these, from each department.  Some may be obvious, while others aren’t.  Good managers will know and understand the obvious expectations.  But, how can they possibly be aware of less than obvious expectations from department to department and from role to role and know how to meet them all?  By harnessing the power of research!  Employee research, commonly called employee engagement surveys, is the most cost effective way to understand the expectations of your employees.

At NBRI, we design and conduct your employee engagement research and then apply deep analytics to the data.  Then, we deliver the action plan needed to assist your organization in becoming as productive as possible.  Also, we recommend that you resurvey your employees periodically to gauge the effectiveness of your improvement initiatives over time. Contact us today to discover the keys to meeting and exceeding expectations in your business!