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How Can They Meet Your Expectations If They Don't Know What They Are?

Managing people can sometimes be veryexpectations of success along the following
rewarding and sometimes frustrating. If welines.
look back we may find the rewarding times
were when people met, or exceeded, ourAt  the  end  of  1  month:
expectations. Sometimes they did this without
even  knowing  what  they  were!Allocated receipts and credits to accounts
accurately
If we look at the frustrating times we may
find a variety of causes - many probablySuccessfully applied the credit management
relate to the flip of the same thing - notprocedures  to  key  customers
meeting  our  expectations.
At the end of 3 months you may expect the new
A key part of leadership is about painting aemployee  to  have  successfully:
picture of the future and then taking people
there. This doesn't have to be a grand earthApplied all Credit Management processes and
shattering view of the future. It can just bepolicies  to  all  customers
about  the  next  step.
Met Credit Management KPIs and targets for at
It may be the way a department should beleast  one  month
operating or how your business should be
interacting with a key customer. What the newAt the end of 9 months you would expect the
ordering process will look like or how thenew  employee  to  have  successfully:
filing  system  will  work.
Accurately prepared monthly credit management
Describing what you want to see as thereports, tables and graphs on KPIs for at
outcome of an individual's work is anleast  3  consecutive  months
excellent way to set the scene. But how often
do  we  take  the  time  to  do  this?Brought  all  accounts  within  trading terms
You can even start it with "My expectationsOnce these expectations are set it is up to
of  this  job  are  that it will achieve ---"the manager and the employee to talk
regularly about progress towards them.
With new employees this should start atFrequent discussions about expectations are
recruitment. Try this technique, it can begoing to either lead to success or at least
very  powerful.very early warnings that some corrective
action  has  to  be  taken.
Look ahead and clarify what you will expect
the candidate to have achieved to be labelledWhat happens after the first year of
a success - at the end of three periods,recruitment?
short, medium and long term. Depending on the
nature of the job, the periods may be, say,We strongly advocate each person having a job
one,  three  and  nine  months.description with clear Key Result Areas and
Measures.  This  determines "what" people do.
Recruiting is one of the most important
things managers do and if there is no clearHowever, often more important is the "how" of
idea of what success looks like it makes itpeople's performance. These guidelines come
so  much  harder.from the core competencies of a business.
These are the organization's values in
We tend to set goals (if we do it at all) inaction.
periods of one year. Of course by the time a
year is up it is usually too late to bringCore competencies can be described as "an
people back on track if they have started offenabling combination of skills, knowledge,
badly.aptitude, motivation and inherent ability"
They are observed through the behaviours of
Our experience usually lets us know ifpeople.
someone has started well so why don't we
share what this looks like with the newFor example a core competency in a business
recruit  before  they  start.may be "Teamwork" and this may be defined in
terms of working cooperatively with team
Here is an example of what this may look likemembers and working towards shared goals.
for  a  new  Sales  Manager.Some of the behaviours demonstrating this
competency may include sharing information
The  first  month  may  include:with others and offering assistance to fellow
team  members  during high work load periods.
Met  and  got  to  know  each  of their staff
All these elements come together to clarify
Understood features and benefits of each ofyour expectations of what employees need to
the  products  and services they are selling.deliver  and  how  you  expect them to do it.
The  three  month  period  may  include:In addition to the normal performance
management process of setting goals and
Met and understood the needs of each of theproviding feedback, using the early
key  customersrecruitment expectations of success and then
reemphasising these based on the job
Developed  key  strategies  to  improve salesdescription and core competencies can be a
very effective tool for raising the awareness
After  nine  months  you  may  expect:of  employees  about your picture of success.
Sales  strategies  implementedThe job descriptions and core competencies
describe the things you expect on a regular
Sales  to  key  customers  increasingbasis and the goals are the additional
expectations  you  agree  together.
If this sort of progress is planned you may
reasonably expect the one year goal ofWith regular clarification of these
increased sales to be met. This approach isexpectations, feedback on progress and
far better than recruiting and then onlyrecognition for achievements, you'll be
setting  the  annual  sales  targets.meeting employees' key needs at the same time
as increasing the chances of them meeting
This technique is applicable at all levels.yours.
The position of Accounts Clerk may have



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