Defining EXACTLY What’s Expected

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from John Maxwell over the last decade or so was from a short session I had access to just before the larger event where I completed certification to teach and train on his material. John shared a brief lesson before fielding questions for the small group. But prior to taking those questions, since we would all soon be newly licensed to represent the content he had poured his life into, he told us that he needed us to be very intentional about always exceeding our clients’ expectations any time we were using his name. He went on to explain that the only way we could ever have the slightest chance of doing this was by making sure we understood exactly what was expected. That requires clarity, clarity we’ll need to provide for each of our team members if we so much as hope they’ll work alongside us in creating a legacy through our organization’s core values. 

I can’t speak for the rest of the folks in that room, but hearing John Maxwell place that expectation on us added a tremendous amount of pressure for me. Having studied his work for close to fifteen years at that point, I had learned as much from him as I had from any other source and I had a high level of respect for his resources. Before going into any more detail on how we explain the behaviors we expect to see in modeling our values, I’ll share what John said as he wrapped up that removed quite a bit of stress immediately. He explained that as important as it was that we work to exceed expectations, doing so would immediately separate us from even the closest competition. He went on the share that in his experience, 80% of people routinely fall short of what’s expected. He told us that around 15% of the population will typically do just what they’re expected to, then stop. He closed by saying that only 5% will ever work to go beyond what’s expected of them. John wrapped up by detailing how simply taking the time to understand what a client is looking for gives us a chance of exceeding their expectations. 

Unfortunately, I’m convinced that his percentages are no longer accurate; it seems like far more than 80% fall short of what’s expected and finding those who exceed expectations has become increasingly rare. Most of us in the room with John back then were already in leadership roles or in business for ourselves. As leaders, it truly falls on our shoulders to make sure we learn exactly what’s expected of us from anyone we’re providing with the slightest bit of service. When we have a team counting on us for leadership, we’re also responsible for providing them with explicit detail of what they’re expected to do - including how we expect them to model our core values. As I mentioned before, I often see folks shy away from setting (or maintaining) high expectations for their teams due to concern of pushing key people away. Interestingly enough, the opposite is generally the case. Failing to set clear - and high - expectations allows room for mediocre performance, and frustrates our best team members. While high expectations may weed out the under-performers, it tends to bring out the best in others. Great team members are ready and willing to routinely exceed expectations, and that sets the tone for outstanding team performance, around our values and over the long haul, and we’ll look at how we can earn this next.