Even if you’ve never owned a business and you’ve never managed a team of people before, you should have at least a rough idea of the value of setting proper expectations. For example, if you walk into an account management role expecting to only manage client relationships, but you end up having to tackle tons of administrative responsibilities too, you might end up disappointed. Alternatively, you could focus only on what you were expecting to accomplish, but your boss will end up disappointed.
Expectations are a form of communication that remove ambiguities from language, clear up any misconceptions in advance, and help all parties walk into a relationship with clear understandings of the values, significance, and direction of that relationship. Clear communication of expectations, well in advance, is critical for a healthy employer-employee relationship.
That being said, some expectations can go without saying. So how do you know which expectations you have to set for your employees?
These five are a good start:
- Individual Responsibilities. If you think most jobs are self-explanatory, think again. If you hire someone to join your team as a social media marketer, what expectations do you have for her responsibilities? Is she only responsible for managing the company’s current social profiles, or is she supposed to find others to sign up for? Is she also in charge of developing content for your company’s blog? Does she have the authority to create her own promotions, or must she work with someone else in marketing to do so? You may not have answers to all these questions immediately, but they’re something you need to hash out as early as possible. Chances are, your prospective employee will have her own expectations for the job—so be sure to ask what those are and negotiate if necessary. It is especially helpful to have job description documents prepared for every position in your organization—that way all expectations are set in clear writing, so either party can go back in check if in doubt.
- Company Culture. The value and significance of company culture should not be underrated. It is the underlying structure and attitude that permeates each individual position and the organization as a whole. Making these cultural values clear early is essential to helping your candidate settle in properly (or withdraw from consideration if they don’t feel it’s a good match). As a few examples, what is the dress code in your office? How flexible are your working hours, and is working from home ever acceptable? What are your policies on breaks and office chatter? Do you emphasize teamwork or individual efforts? Are you more casual or formal? Are you implementing any of these employee engagement activities? A quick tour of the office could clear most of these up, but never assume that your candidate knows what’s expected of him from a cultural perspective.
- Performance Metrics. Different companies measure performance in different ways. All companies want their employees to work as hard as possible to improve their respective departments and make the company more profitable, but how are you going to measure that performance at the end of the year? Will you use one of the many employee productivity tracking software tools on the market? And will you be measuring his performance based on whether or not he hit a range of specific goals, or is it more about how he performs on a daily basis and the effort he puts in?
- Feedback Formats. Performance evaluation generally comes at the end of a relationship period, whether it’s at the end of the week or the end of the year. Feedback occurs throughout the process, and you need to establish how that feedback will be handled. Will you be giving your candidate minimal feedback in a hands-off approach, or constant feedback as you tailor her to the role? If she has feedback for her supervisors or teammates, in what format should she give it?
- Future Growth. Last but not least, you’ll need to set some expectations for the future, both for your candidate and for the company as a whole. What are your long-term goals as an organization? How will the company develop over the next few years? Will your candidate have opportunities to increase her salary or get promotions? If so, how and in what timeframe?
These five expectations should be set with every employee well in advance of the working relationship, ideally during the interview phase. However, you’ll also need to evaluate the individual responsibilities and expectations you have for each specific role—you may find that you have other expectations that exceed these five basic ones, depending on the position at hand. The clearer and more thorough you are at the beginning of a relationship, the better that relationship will be as it develops.