CLEAR EXPECTATIONS

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3 min read

Gaining clarity on what is expected of you at work

 

Employees who know exactly what is expected of them are more likely to meet performance goals.

Unfortunately, it seems that only about 50% of employees know what their goals are and what success looks like for them. Organisations are increasingly complex and so does the work that employees do. Hence, having clarity on these goals can be challenging.

It is a manager’s role to help employees set and achieve goals, however, you can take up a proactive approach to work together with managers to ensure you have a razor-sharp focus on your goals and expectations. Explicitly clarifying these expectations regularly would help create and maintain the clarity you would need to help you succeed.  

 

pexels-polina-zimmerman-3778619

 

Part of this proactive approach is to self-reflect and check your current understanding of your goals:

 

  1. Do you know what your goals (Key Performance Indicators / Objectives & Key Results) are for this quarter/year? If not, why do you not have access to your goals? If yes, are there any specific aspects you are not clear of?

  2. How many managers do you report to? Have you gathered your expectations from each of them? (Especially important for matrix organisations)

  3. Have you asked your manager about the goals and expectations required of you? If yes, did you manage to gain more clarity after? Was there something you can reflect back to your manager? If not, why not?

 
Let’s put this in
work context

 

The actions that you can take largely depends on the context of your work and your organisation, and can be broadly broken down into 2 scenarios:
Scenario A:

If you do have goals such as Key Performance Indicators / Objectives & Key Results set for you already, the actions you can take are:

  1. Review the goals and mark out those that you are not clear about

  2. Set a time with your manager to clarify them (e.g., gain confidence, quicker growth, etc.) 

     

Scenario B:

If you do not have goals such as Key Performance Indicators / Objectives & Key Results set for you, the actions you can take are:

  1. Set a time with your manager to talk about goals and expectations  

  2. Lay out all the different tasks you are undertaking now and set a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) goal for each with your manager  

 

 

 

 

 

“

People can’t live up to the expectations they don’t know have been set for them

 

- Rory Vaden

 

 

 

 

It is helpful to think about how to set better goals and how goal setting motivates you.

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