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Whose Expectations?

My clients tend to be motivated, goal-oriented high achievers. They like success, and they like to know what they need to do to be successful.

If you’ve been in the corporate world for any length of time, you know that expectations are often less than crystal-clear. If you’re lucky, you’ve got a well-written, understandable, and accurate job description. If you’re very lucky, you’ve got a manager who makes his expectations clear, provides feedback quickly and unambiguously (both good and bad), and uses your input to help you create a career path that matches your goals and interests.

Very few are that lucky. And even those who are that lucky often still make the mistake I’m writing about today: getting confused by internal, personally-defined expectations masquerading as external, management-defined expectations.

It’s very easy for self-motivated high achievers to create their own expectations of what they want to accomplish, and then — often unconsciously — to lump those together with the actual expectations defined by their bosses and their job descriptions.

Even more sneaky are those expectations that come in disguise. When you’re not entirely clear about your boss’s expectations, it’s natural to create your own ideas of what you think they are. They’re your expectations — but they look and feel like your boss’s.

There’s nothing wrong with having high personal standards and setting goals for yourself that exceed those required by your current role. However, when you confuse your personal expectations and goals with what your manager actually expects you to be doing, you run several significant risks.

1. You may be focusing on the wrong priorities. When you emphasize your own goals over those of your boss, you risk being seen as an under-performer who doesn’t take direction well. And it’s easy to do, because your goals are often more clear, fun, interesting, and rewarding.
2. You’re almost certainly creating unnecessary stress and anxiety for yourself. Jobs today come with a very full and busy list of responsibilities and actions. Adding a host of your own on top of that, and then expecting yourself to get it all done, is a recipe for long hours and frustration.
3. You could be perceived as disorganized and inefficient. When others know what your actual job requirements are, they don’t understand why you’re spending extra time on other activities. Your credibility as a smart, effective employee suffers.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not suggesting that you put your feet up on your desk and coast. Nor am I suggesting that you never extend yourself or take on extra work, especially if you’re seeking a significant promotion or looking to change careers. Just be sure you’re prioritizing correctly, know exactly what your manager really wants from you, and know exactly why you’re doing something extra.

Here are a few suggestions to help you figure out which expectations are whose.

Review your job description

Get very familiar with your job description and check that you’re doing what it says. If you don’t have one, or if it doesn’t accurately reflect your responsibilities, take the time to create or update it.

For more ideas about job descriptions, read "The Description Dilemma".

What’s your goal?

Gone are the days when you could expect your manager or another mentor to take you under her wing and help guide your career. That type of relationship takes time to develop — time that’s seldom available in today’s environment.

Take responsibility for knowing what you want and how to get it. Know what your next career step is, and know what actions and responsibilities will help you take it.

What’s your personality?

Are you someone who’s always helping out, ready to pitch in and pick up the slack, volunteering for tasks no one else is stepping up to do?

You may think you’re being a real team player, but in fact you’re just taking on a heavy burden of extra work. Yes, sometimes you need to help out, but you don’t need to help out every time. Before you say, “Yes, I’ll do it,” think about the impact to your other work and to your time. And be sure you’re volunteering for tasks that are truly best done by you, that showcase your talents. There may be someone else who not only has more time, but also has a more appropriate skill set or background.

Meet with your manager

Finally, sit down with your manager (especially if you’ve updated your job description). Find out if the description actually matches what he wants you to be doing.

Does he support your career goal — and are your expectations of what you need to do to reach that goal in alignment with his?

If you’ve found yourself under a heavy load of volunteered-for tasks on top of your regular workload, you may also want to ask for his input on prioritization. If you have logical, reasonable suggestions for who might be better suited to take on some of those tasks, now’s your chance to see if he agrees. Obviously, don’t complain or try to get out of work that’s legitimately yours to do. But do begin to draw boundaries, even if only for yourself, around what is and isn’t reasonable for you to take on.

Keep on top of it

Unnecessary extra tasks will not only eat up precious time and exhaust you, but can also affect your credibility and your opportunities for the best projects and the fastest promotions

As someone who has high expectations for yourself, be careful to keep your expectations separate from your employer’s. As I said, there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious, helpful, and focused. Just be sure you’re focusing on the right things, helping in the most effective ways, and clear on how to achieve your ambitions.

“In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.” Robert Heinlein, 1907-1988, American novelist and science-fiction author.

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