One of the key drivers of effective leadership revolves around the notion of expectations. What do I mean by expectations? within a leadership frame of reference?
First
of all, you have expectations about being a leader, what that means in general
terms, and what you believe or expect about yourself as a leader. Perhaps you
have aspired to be in a leadership role since before you entered the formal
workforce. Perhaps your expectations of
what it means to be a leader come from formative experiences in school or
sports. No doubt, you have also likely had your share of
good and bad leaders, and those experiences have helped shape what you now
expect of yourself as a leader.
Our formative experiences can lead us to believe that becoming a leader should result in a tremendous increase in power and privilege. Alternatively, we may enter into leadership roles with a great deal more humility and anxiety if we recognize that increased scope of responsibility comes with new obligations and challenges.
Our expectations of ourselves
can be sources of motivation and inspiration, AND a source of
frustration and disappointment. To succeed, progress, and move
forward, there is value in setting aspirational and stretch goals. In this
case, we are setting the bar high with the belief that with strong commitment,
effort, learning, and development, we can meet the standard we have set for ourselves.
We seek to inspire ourselves to a new level of performance.
The caution around these
expectations is to ensure they are grounded in reality and don’t – due to any
source of setback – become a source of punishment and demotivation. “Failure”
in this case must be objectively assessed for the learning it might impart to
us, allowing us to either right size expectations of ourselves or re-invest in
the original goals.
Second, as you were placed
into one or more leadership roles throughout your career, you also know that you
and your organization or boss had some expectations of each other. If you are
fortunate, these expectations were made crystal clear. However, if you are like most of us, it is
more likely the case that you and your boss discovered – perhaps painfully –
that there were unclear or even unstated expectations around performance, commitments,
and obligations of your leadership position.
A final aspect of
expectations in play comes from the team you are placed in charge of and the
peers in leadership you will be working with. Each of these individuals has
expectations of what you and your leadership should look like, what they expect
you to deliver for them, and how they expect you to treat them. The greater the
level of leadership responsibility you take on, the greater the number of eyes
will be on you, and the greater number of expectations there will be to juggle.
With those people external
to you, the diversity of their expectations will, in fact, be as different and
as complex as the number of individuals you interact with. What each of your followers, stakeholders,
and constituents deems of value or importance to them can range widely. For
example, some will expect you to
· place greatest emphasis on
doing what is right for the people of the organization (e.g., how can we grow
and support their success and development?);
· focus on bottom line
results (however that might be defined), seek to drive performance, and
recognize those individuals who meet and exceed targets;
· set up best-in-class
systems, processes and structures that ensure the right thing gets done, in the
right way, on a consistent basis; and
· be an incredibly inclusive
leader, driven to get input from all, believing that the best solutions are
created through consensus.
I have only touched the surface of these externally driven expectations. Depending on how front-facing you are to your customers, clients, or stakeholders, a whole range of other perspectives come into play.
And let’s add one more variable
into the mix. Expectations are never static; they are constantly changing and
evolving. Just when you have think you have everything crystal clear and
your engine is humming in perfect efficiency, a wrench is thrown into the
system. For example:
· Your external business
environment changes leading to a need for change in priorities for your
organization.
· Your boss changes. Now you
have to adjust to a new style of leadership and new goals to decipher and
deliver on.
· Your team changes over time
– they grow and develop, perhaps move on to new roles, or the team expands and
contracts. That means your team’s expectations about how they are led and what
you need to do for them shifts.
· You yourself also grow and
develop and look to have different personal and professional needs met. You
might be looking for more or new challenges. Even your personal life circumstances might change and cause you to
reconsider what your leadership path should now be.
Regardless of the reason
for change, expectations will continuously shift over time. As a leader, you
will have to evaluate and be attentive to the shifting sands of expectations
from a variety of sources.
Expectations can be motivating. Expectations can be challenging. Expectations are never static.
Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC