What do they expect?

Another wee snippet from my current book project, 10 Steps to Better Management.

Do you know how your manager, peers, and team members would answer these questions relative to their expectations of you? In what ways would their answers differ?

You may think that some of these questions are too basic to be asked, but they generate some really great and eye opening conversations. Give it a try!

Oh, one more thing. For those of you with people who report to you - do your team members know how you would answer these questions for them?

Tell me how you define quality of work? What are your expectations regarding deadlines and communication of work status? What does being prepared mean?

What is your expectation of me regarding making and communicating decisions? What types of decisions would you like me to include you in making?

Describe the work environment you expect me to build and reinforce? In what ways would you like to see the company’s culture change and what role do you believe I should play in creating that transformation? Is there anything about the department’s current culture that you think ought to change or improve?

Describe what is means to be creative? How important is creativity and innovation and what are your expectations of me regarding creativity and innovation? In what ways would you like my group and me to generate new ideas and improve results?

Describe for me your vision of how a well functioning team looks and feels? What expectations do you have regarding team developing and productivity? What are your expectations regarding how I will manage and correct poor performance? How much time do you think I ought to spend coaching others?

What does effective communication look like in your eyes? What are your expectations of me regarding communication? What are your expectations of me regarding attending and conducting meetings?

Everyone needs to continue to grow. In what two ways would you most like to see me to grow and develop over the next year?

What does it mean to be results oriented? What are your expectations of me regarding getting results and being results oriented?

How important is partnership and collaboration? What are your expectations of me regarding our level of partnership and collaboration? In what ways would you like to see partnership and collaboration improve?

What does it mean to represent the company well? What are your expectations for how managers will conduct themselves and represent the company?

What questions would you ask?

Comments

[Wally Bock]

This is good stuff and surely looking around at the folks you serve is a very good thing indeed. I have three concerns, all deriving from my work with people in organizations. The reason we call my company Three Star Leadership Enterprises is that we want to create leaders who get star ratings from their boss, their peers and their subordinates.

I worry that if you present the material this way, readers will take it as a bunch of questions that have to be answered all at one sitting and that all the sittings will be completed in a week or so. These are questions you need to keep asking, and seeking the answers to, every day, just not all at once.

I also found myself wondering if we couldn't boil this all down to a question or two, much like Fred Reichheld did for customer service questions in The Ultimate Question. If we do that, could they be:

What do you expect from me?
How am I doing?

The third concern is that none of this will work unless there is a culture of candor in place. If people don't feel they're in an environment where speaking the truth is important, they will start filtering their answers and you will get watered-down truth if you get any truth at all.

[Lisa Haneberg]

Wally - I created the questions because the single question does not work. If you ask someone "What do you expect from me?" you rarely get much beyond the basics.

The problem is that the number one reason I have seen smart and hardworking managers get terminated is a chasm between what they thought their manager's wanted and what the managers actually expected.

I agree that the questions can get answered over time.

[Steve Roesler]

Lisa,

I just read through the questions for the second time. These would create a terrific conversation for a new hire (or promotion) and his/her boss over a lunch or dinner. Put a page in the appendix and perhaps call it "Your transition conversation" or something along those lines.

Steve

[Lisa Haneberg]

Steve - good point, this would be perfect for a transition. Thanks.

[Wally Bock]

That makes sense, Lisa, especially if the relationships are new and there hasn't been time for the kind of ongoing conversations that characterize good supervision. I find there's always a tension, though, between all the things we should talk about, without substituting talking about performance for performance itself.

In the short term, do you have a kind of "Pareto Version" where the conversation can be used to identify the one or two most important things?

[Lisa Haneberg]

Wally - I think that would vary by company, situation, and manager. What is most important to be crystal clear about is probalby different at Google, Ford, and Nordstrom's. People can choose questions from the list or come up with other questions that might make the greatest sense.

The key thing I want people to get from looking at these is a sense that they need to know more about expectations than the obvious performance goals.

The termination letters I have crafted for managers have rarely said, "you did not meet your goals." Also, I think that it is some of these intangibles that most impact goal attainment.