When thinking about expectations, there’s really two types you need to factor in: the expectations you have of yourself, and the expectations you have of others.
Your own personal expectations have a high correlation with your own personal performance. And as we learned earlier this week in my podcast, employer expectations have a high correlation with employee performance.
When we’re trying to do everything in our power to live up to the expectations we find ourselves faced with throughout our lives — and help our team live up to the expectations we have of them as well — it’s important that we start by understanding them.
If you’re going to live up to expectations, you need to ask yourself the following:
- What’s the ideal outcome I’d like to achieve?
- Is it realistic?
- How am I going to accomplish it?
- Why is it important that I accomplish this?
- How am I going to measure my success?
Make sure you relay these things to your team so everyone’s on the same page. Being crystal clear about the expectations you put on yourself and others is the first step to ensuring they’re actually put into motion.
Next, you’ll want to take a look at your language.
If you’re feeding your mind with pure, positive, and good language, you’ll be better equipped to live up to expectations.
You see, the mind and the body go together. If you use phrases like “I have to” or “I can’t”, you’re feeding your mind with negativity. That’ll show through in the way you operate.
You cannot rise to meet these expectations if you do not use language that empowers you. You cannot expect your team to meet the expectations you have of them if you do not do everything in your power to help them see the glass half full.
To start making a change, take a look at the language you’ve used over this past week. What do you hear yourself saying? Is it positive? Or is it negative?
Try to change those “I have to” statements into “I want to” — the “I can’t” into “I can” or “I’ll find a way.” Help your team see the positive side of what they’re expected to do.
In the workplace and in life, it’s highly likely that you’re not going to be living up to expectations all on your own.
That’s why you’ll need to make sure your team has what they need to succeed.
When people ask me about my secret to success, I always tell them the same thing: it’s my ability to recruit, hire, train, develop, mentor, and coach people around me to be successful themselves.
Get everyone focused on commonality and objective, help them understand the big picture, inspire and motivate them along the way, and teach them how to be better at what they do.
I’m not sure about you, but when I build teams, and I have expectations of teams, I want to spend my time. I want to invest my time. There’s a lot of people that can make everyone sit behind a desk and bark orders. I think it’s much better to teach people by showing them and helping them take action.
I can’t tell you how powerful your own personal expectations are. By doing what you can to live up to your own personal expectations, you get a better opportunity to live up to other people’s expectations.
And by helping others live up to the expectations you have of them, you’ll find you’re set up for nothing but success.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. For more advice on how to revamp your mind, your business, and your life, don’t forget to tune into my podcast every Tuesday.