Great Expectations: It Can Be a Dickens of a Time Holding Others Accountable

This article was originally published by Training Magazine. See link below for full article. 

Have you ever considered that the only thing you EVER hold people accountable for is the expectations you have of them? You probably were thinking it’s “results,” but it’s really the expectations you have of other people—the outcomes they will create, the results they will get, the work they will do and even how they will go about doing it. Everything fits into the bucket of expectations when it comes to holding others accountable.

The problem is that sometimes those expectations, our expectations, aren’t all that clear. Take, for example, the last time you had dinner at a restaurant. When the waiter approached, we would imagine you had some expectations about how you should be served—how many times he interrupted the discussion to check on “how you’re doing,” how often he kept your glass filled, and so forth. Amazingly, we never clarify those expectations we have at the beginning of the meal; but we do hold that waiter accountable for how well he filled those unknown expectations at the end with a tip.

Can you imagine how the “setting expectations” conversation could go at the beginning of the meal if we were trying to get it right?

Read full article at Training Magazine  – “Great Excpectations: It can be a Dickens of a Time Holding Others Accountable”