Setting Expectations as a Manager

One simple way to create predictability and stability for your team is to be transparent about what you expect of your teammates, and what they can expect of you.

All kinds of organizational expectations (quarterly goals, job descriptions, team mission statements, etc.) will evolve based on company context, scale over time, leadership changes, you name it. As our environments change, managers need to flex HOW they set expectations, to set their teammates up for success.

In this workshop, we talk about how to balance being empowering and being directive as a leader, and how to know when to switch up your approach. We’ll also work on helping managers identify their default approach, so that they can see when it's most useful, and when they might need to adapt it based on what their team or company needs, what the challenge is, how much urgency there is.

Transcript

1. Setting Expectations
   

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2. ● Company-wide
   e.g. company values
   ● Function-specific
   e.g. skills matrix, career ladder
   ● Team-specific
   e.g. team mission
   ● Individual-specific
   e.g. quarterly goals
   

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3. ● Company-wide
   e.g. company values
   ● Function-specific
   e.g. skills matrix, career ladder
   ● Team-specific
   e.g. team mission
   ● Individual-specific
   e.g. quarterly goals
   

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4. Why should we set
   expectations?
   

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5. ● Improvement and progress
   ● Clarity and transparency
   ● Alignment and efficiency
   ● Feedback
   

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6. Empowerment vs Direction
   

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7. Empowerment Direction
   

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8. Empowerment Direction
   Coaching teammates to
   connect their own dots
   Sponsoring teammates for
   visible/stretch assignments
   Group brainstorming to create
   expectations docs and
   roadmaps
   

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9. Empowerment Direction
   Coaching teammates to
   connect their own dots
   Sponsoring teammates for
   visible/stretch assignments
   Group brainstorming to create
   expectations docs and
   roadmaps
   Writing job descriptions
   for each team role
   Scheduling oncall rotations
   Assigning work to
   each teammate
   

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10. Risks and tradeoffs
    

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11. Moving along the
    spectrum
    More Empowering More Directive
    

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12. Your cross-functional
    peer is falling short on
    their core responsibilities.
    1
    

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13. Your direct report
    wants to be promoted,
    but you’re not sure if
    they’re ready.
    2
    

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14. Your direct report has
    come to you with a
    competing job offer at 2x
    their current salary.
    3
    

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15. One of your direct reports
    has been mean to their
    teammate when you’re
    not around.
    4
    

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16. When a new request
    comes in for your team,
    no one jumps in to triage
    or address it.
    5
    

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17. A senior leader
    routinely interrupts
    you in meetings.
    6
    

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18. Your approach will be informed by:
    ● the team’s context,
    ● the needs of your individual
    teammates,
    ● who you are as a leader, and
    ● what the organization needs.
    

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19. Giving strong direction
    

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20. Practice affirming
    body language:
    ● Nodding
    ● Eye contact
    ● Leaning in
    

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21. Practice bottom-lining it.
    ● Start with paragraphs
    ● Narrow to 2 sentences
    ● Narrow to 1 sentence
    

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22. Strong direction can
    create more fairness.
    

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23. Roleplay different ways to
    give direction as practice.
    

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24. Getting out of
    your comfort zone
    

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25. Knowing our default
    

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26. Management/
    Leadership Philosophies
    

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27. “Humans already have the answer(s)
    inside themselves; I help find them.”
    - me
    

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28. “Optimize for long term
    relationships.”
    - Jason Wong, Senior Director of Engineering
    

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29. “Strong back, open heart.”
    - Jerry Colonna, who introduced it to...
    - Chad Dickerson, former CEO, now coach
    

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30. "The strength of the team is each
    individual member. The strength of
    each member is the team."
    - Phil Jackson, former head coach of Chicago Bulls
    - also Jill Wetzler, Head of Engineering
    

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31. Homework:
    Experiment more with the spectrum.
    Data-gather: what effect does each
    place on the spectrum have on you
    and those around you?
    

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32. Homework if you want to try out
    more group empowerment:
    Brainstorming Team and Manager
    Expectations Worksheet
    

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33. Focus on writing down
    expected outcomes
    (rather than behaviors)
    

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34. Get curious about (and
    prioritize) what your
    teammates’ needs are
    

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35. Treat team expectation
    docs as living documents!
    

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