Page 190 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

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Expectations

”I’m Confused and I’m Concerned”

Several years ago, I started using the expression “I’m confused and
I’m concerned” whenever someone failed to meet an expectation.
For example, “I’m confused because I thought that I was clear in
my expectation that the report would be finished by 5:00 today,
and I’m concerned because that expectation does not appear to
have been met. Please help me understand.” I always want to leave
open the possibility that I was not clear in my communication or
may have misperceived the situation in some way. Critically, this
approach avoids the other person immediately becoming defen-
sive and promotes a sense of collaboration.

The Bottom Line

It doesn’t matter how well trained your people are—if they don’t
clearly know what is expected of them, they are going to miss
the mark. Supervisors who collaborate with employees to set
clear goals show respect to their employees and foster a culture
of engagement. A word of caution: all goals should be viewed
as checkpoints on the path of continuous improvement. Never
allow a goal to create a “ceiling effect,” where there is no room
to grow. In other words, don’t let goals limit what is possible for
you, your employees, or your organization. In the next chapter
we tackle the most difficult to teach driver in the RESPECT
Model: consideration.