Expectations, Perception, Communication – 3 essentials to leading successful people
Do you recognise this scenario in your organisation.
A manager says. “I need you to get this report to me asap”
A common theme in most organisations and highlights an aspect of life that can start a spiral of events that will stop your people and your organisation performing.
- What does asap mean?
- What does it mean to the Manager saying it? Two hours, Two days in the next Two minutes?
- What does it mean to the employee hearing it? Two hours, Two days in the next Two minutes?
- What does the employee think will happen if they don’t get the report to the Manager asap? Do they think they will lose their job? Do they think that it will be ok? Do they begin to panic?
The point here is that a lot of our behaviour as humans is driven by our reaction to one of three things. Expectations, Perception and Communication.
As a leader it is vital that:
- You have full control of these three areas
- You help your people gain full control of these three areas.
Getting one of them wrong can lead to a spiral of events that neither you nor your people need. And we know what the impact of this is..... Poor performance.
Think back to challenging interactions you have had with people in your personal life and in your work life. I bet a lot of these were caused by:
- Expecting things to happen that didn’t
- Expecting someone to have done something and they didn’t do it
- Expecting someone to do something or behave in a certain way
- Perceiving something that someone has said in the wrong way or not in the way it was intended
- A point you have made being perceived in the wrong way
- Communicating a point it the wrong way or at the wrong time…or both!
Life happens so quickly and human interaction is so instantaneous that unless we have full control of Expectations, Perception and Communication we can end up getting ourselves into situations that we really didn’t want to find ourselves in.
These events often lead to us carrying out actions that we never really wanted to carry out.
As a leader always ensure that you:
- Have realistic and helpful expectations of yourself and your people. If your expectations are unrealistic your people will never deliver for you. Not because they are poor performers but because the expectations put on them were unrealistic and unhelpful!
- Check your perception of events. Then re check them before acting!
- Help your people to perceive things in the right way by checking their understanding of your communication. Never assume that they will perceive things as you intended them to be. If you get this wrong you could set off a whole series of emotional events that will stop your people performing.
The starting point for success is YOU.
Checklist
- Start today by checking that your expectations are helpful and realistic
- Check your perceptions of events are accurate before you act
- Ensure your communication is perceived in the way it was intended.
Get this right and watch the quality of your interactions improve, the performance of your people improve and your people’s engagement scores improve!
