Managing Unrealistic Expectations at the Workplace

Leaders often expect impeccable performance from their team after investing in talent management. But, there is a thin line between stellar results and unrealistic goals.

Maintaining your expectations can save you from feeling frustrated with your team. It lets you focus on employees’ achievements and creates a healthy workplace.

If you recently became a leader or have been in such a position for a while, you’ll be more successful once you learn to manage your standards. Here are some tips.

 

👉 Make Sure You Provide the Right Resources

Poor resource assessment and allocation are a major cause of unrealistic expectations. Your employees may have the best skills, but they won’t be that productive if they don’t have the right tools for their jobs.

Before setting goals for every worker, find out if you have provided them with the necessary resources. You can research to determine the tools your main competitors have. What software do they use, and how does it compare to yours? Do they provide additional training for their staff, and who pays for it?

Investigating such matters will help you align your expectations with industry standards. If you discover that your company uses less effective software, you can invest in better tools. You could also lower your expectations to match the resources you are currently able to provide.

When planning a new project, it’s easy to be overly ambitious. Manage your expectations by first identifying the resources needed for the initiative. Find out if you need to hire a new employee to complement your team’s abilities. You may also give your employees time to learn the skills required for the project.

Taking such steps will simplify resource assessment and allocation. It also gives you a good idea of how to achieve each goal without compromising efficiency.

 

👉 Be Flexible

Unforeseen changes can happen even when you plan a project to the last bit. An employee may fall ill, causing other team members to have additional work. Someone might also leave your company mid-project, and you will need more time to find a new employee. Extreme cybersecurity threats and software downtimes may also slow your work.

Being flexible will help you set and manage your expectations. Instead of setting a fixed deadline for projects, have some buffer time. Be open to adding new members if you need more hands on deck. It’s also crucial to have some potential hires in mind in case you lose your best talent during a critical time.

Not all tasks carry the same weight, and you may sometimes need to compromise. For example, if you have an urgent project affecting the bottom line, your employees might need to pause some work.

Instead of pressuring them to complete every project on time, set priorities. Identify essential projects and those that employees can scale back. Doing so will make the work more manageable and ensure important tasks get the best attention.

 

👉 Lean on Your Emotional Intelligence

High expectations may arise due to poor emotional intelligence. For example, if you lack empathy, you may believe employees will meet tough goals even when burnt out. You might expect that they can forget about their issues once they clock in.

While some people can focus even in a personal crisis, others struggle. It’s easy for even your best talent to be less productive when they are unwell or stressed.

Acknowledging that your employees’ emotions affect their output will help you manage expectations. Lean on your emotional intelligence by looking at things from your employee’s perspective.

If you were in their shoes, would you meet the goals you set for them? Can you work in a high-stress environment and achieve optimal productivity? How would you like your boss to help you sail through a tough time in your life?

Asking such questions helps you be more empathetic. You will understand how external factors affect your worker’s ability to meet expectations. This measure also allows you to offer your support, which will improve their ability to meet goals.

Here are other ways you can use emotional intelligence to manage expectations:

• Consider employee’s capacity and skills before assigning them work
• Set goals that offer employees personal and career growth
• Cultivate a growth mindset at the workplace
• Assess how adjusting expectations improves employees’ attitude

 

👉 Encourage Open Communication

Poor communication can cause you to set unrealistic expectations. If you and your employees aren’t on the same page, you will likely have different objectives. They may focus on completing tasks that are within their primary roles. On the other hand, you might expect that they will pay more attention to what you consider more important.

Open communication will ensure that everyone knows the firm’s priorities and goals. When assigning duties, brief employees on the scope of the work. Let them know you want to achieve specific objectives within a particular time. Communicate the desired outcome and the purpose of each task.

Identifying the challenges that may come up during a project can save you from setting unrealistic expectations. Before delegating work, discuss such concerns with your employees. Is there an issue they encountered when doing similar tasks in the past? If yes, did you find a way to avoid or solve the problem so that it doesn’t affect them again?

Predicting challenges that may arise during a project is not always possible. So, it’s good to encourage your employees to give you feedback at all stages. Find out if they need more resources or want you to alter the delivery schedule. Determine if they would like another department to help them with other tasks.

When you take such measures, you can catch potential issues before they lead to unmanageable expectations. Offering and accepting feedback also improves trust and transparency. If everyone can express their concerns, setting realistic goals and refining them when needed will be easy.

 

👉 Achieve Sustainable Success With Realistic Expectations

Managing unrealistic expectations motivates employees and shows that you value them. It helps you keep projects on track by addressing challenges earlier on.

You can succeed in your role and retain your employees by setting flexible goals. Ask for their feedback and use it to adjust ambitious goals that may cause burnout or frustrate them.

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