Growing Employee Expectations Supports Business Success
Does our expectations increase as we achieve something? It surely does and we start expecting something more, better, bigger or higher? That's human nature and it's true for everyone, but the type and quantum of expectations are different for different individuals.
Now, why am I discussing expectations? We all know this! But do we as leaders or business owners, consider fulfilling expectations of our teams or only ours for fulfillment? This is where many business owners / leaders do not feel comfortable. I have had several instances of heated arguments with business owners about why they felt it was better not to create opportunities or reward teams adequately so that their expectations do not grow! They felt it could cost them more, and /or retention could be more challenging.
Does this make any logical sense? If I am expecting higher revenues and profits, how do I go about it? I will naturally expect my teams to achieve higher or steeper targets to fulfill my expectations. But, Can the teams achieve more than what they had done earlier, when they have no further expectations from their work, or when they are allowed to expect only within certain predefined limits? This is a classic case of throttled work motivation. Owner managers perceive its safer to limit rewards (monetary and others) without much consideration of expectations, lest expectations go up! We all know the final outcome. The business achieves lower than its targets and ultimately stagnates. At that point if one is uncomfortable with the imbalance between one's expectations and achievement, one would look for a solution. Else, one learns to accept that one has reached the peak and nothing more is possible from this business or teams!
The bare few cases where business owners decide to turn the tide around, they succeed only when they learn to treat expectations of their existing teams as important too. Everything starts to work favourably, when the management policies and strategies take into consideration this fact. Employees feel satisfied and do their best to fulfill the management expectations. As a result business performance improves and expectations go up a notch further, this time for both owners and teams! And the success story continues...
Now, why am I discussing expectations? We all know this! But do we as leaders or business owners, consider fulfilling expectations of our teams or only ours for fulfillment? This is where many business owners / leaders do not feel comfortable. I have had several instances of heated arguments with business owners about why they felt it was better not to create opportunities or reward teams adequately so that their expectations do not grow! They felt it could cost them more, and /or retention could be more challenging.
Does this make any logical sense? If I am expecting higher revenues and profits, how do I go about it? I will naturally expect my teams to achieve higher or steeper targets to fulfill my expectations. But, Can the teams achieve more than what they had done earlier, when they have no further expectations from their work, or when they are allowed to expect only within certain predefined limits? This is a classic case of throttled work motivation. Owner managers perceive its safer to limit rewards (monetary and others) without much consideration of expectations, lest expectations go up! We all know the final outcome. The business achieves lower than its targets and ultimately stagnates. At that point if one is uncomfortable with the imbalance between one's expectations and achievement, one would look for a solution. Else, one learns to accept that one has reached the peak and nothing more is possible from this business or teams!
The bare few cases where business owners decide to turn the tide around, they succeed only when they learn to treat expectations of their existing teams as important too. Everything starts to work favourably, when the management policies and strategies take into consideration this fact. Employees feel satisfied and do their best to fulfill the management expectations. As a result business performance improves and expectations go up a notch further, this time for both owners and teams! And the success story continues...
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