Page 189 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

160 Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work

downside to this exercise. If you are closely aligned—great!
More likely, however, you will have the opportunity to address
differences in perception and provide important guidance. By
the way, if you and an employee are strongly misaligned, you
should start off the conversation by apologizing and accepting
responsibility for not being a more effective communicator.
Regardless of the degree of alignment, end all such conversa-
tions by encouraging employees to come to you whenever they
have questions about expectations or how they are doing.
9. Expect great things. There is an old saying, “You get
what you expect,” and if you don’t expect much you won’t get
much. One of the best signs I ever saw in a manager’s office
read: “I expect great things from you; please expect the same
from me.” I find that if you see people as great, they do great
things. Set challenging goals that let your employees know
that you have confidence in them. Most people resist setting
higher goals because they fear failure. You should foster a
culture where the only way people can fail is if they don’t try
to improve. Obviously, you need to be a role model. In fact, I
encourage you to write your goals on a whiteboard in your
office, track your progress, and encourage your team to hold
you accountable.
10. Manage expectations. Employees frequently speak
about having learned how to manage their boss’s expecta-
tions. Sometimes this is done in the spirit of manipulation
when employees believe that they have “trained” their super-
visor to lower his or her expectations. Obviously, such manip-
ulation should not be tolerated. However, employees should
be encouraged to keep in regular contact with their manager
and keep him or her apprised of any possible concerns. It is
far more desirable to manage expectations than to allow oth-
ers to believe that projects are on track when they are not.