Tag Archives: setting expectations

SETTING EXPECTATIONS – HOW TO SET CLEAR EMPLOYEE EXPECTATIONS – PART 1

This resource is a continuation of a virtual training resource on ‘Setting Expectations’. In the previous part of the resource we dealt with, ‘What are employee expectations?’ You can access that resource here. In this part of the resource we will explore – How to set clear employee expectations.


HOW TO SET CLEAR EXPECTATIONS

In this part of the session, you will explore with the participants the actions they can take to set clear employee expectations.

Display the slide titled – LEROY’S FIRST TIME TASK.


SLIDE – LEROY’S FIRST TIME TASK


After displaying the slide, tell them that:

  • Leroy is a new manager with three team members.
  • He has never set expectations before, and he needs to set them for a new member of staff.
  • Leroy is speaking to an experienced manager for support.
  • Let’s read more about the situation.

Direct them to the part of their workbooks titled – LEROY’S FIRST TIME TASK.

The information there describes a group activity they will be doing. Allow them to read the information there individually.


WORKBOOK CONTENT – LEROY’S FIRST-TIME TASK


Use the ‘breakout rooms’ feature to split them into small groups of between three to four people per group and give them 6-minutes to do the activity.

After 6-minutes, stop them and bring everyone back to the main room. Allow each group to feedback their answers and listen to them intently.

When they finish presenting their feedback, thank them for doing the activity and tell them that:

  • Let me tell you what specifically Ola told Leroy.
  • She gave him six action points to follow in order to set clear expectations for his new team member.
  • Let me show you what they are.

Display the slide titled – SIX TIPS FOR SETTING CLEAR EXPECTATIONS.


SLIDE – SIX TIPS FOR SETTING CLEAR EXPECTATIONS


After displaying the slide, the six tips will display automatically without you needing to click or do anything.

Allow them to read the information on the slide for about 2-minutes.

Then tell them that:

  • We are going to explore these six tips a bit more and this time from your own perspective.
  • In your workbooks is a section titled – APPLYING THE SIX TIPS TO YOURSELF.

WORKBOOK CONTENT – APPLYING THE SIX TIPS TO YOURSELF


Tell them to go to that section in their workbooks and let them read it for about 3 to 5-minutes.

After that give each of them 10-minutes to do the individual activity in their workbooks.

When the time is up, stop them. Ask how they found the activity generally and listen to them.

Then tell each person to tell you their answers to one of the responses to the six tips and again listen to them without commenting or asking any questions.

When they finish speaking thank, them for doing it.

Then let them know that the last thing they are going to do is help Leroy who wants to set expectations for his new team member.

They will also help Leroy create a timetable for having 1:1 meetings for reviewing expectations and discussing other important things.

In the next part of the session (in the next post), the participants will continue to explore how to set clear expectations

Setting Expectations – What are Employee Expectations?

Display the slide titled – WHAT ARE EMPLOYEE EXPECTATIONS?

Read out the instructions on the slide for them to write their description of employee expectations in the chat window. Give them 3-minutes to do it.

As they type out their definitions in the chat window, read through them quietly so you don’t distract the participants. When the 3-minutes are up, stop and thank them for doing the activity. Then let them know you are going to read their definitions.

Read out their definitions and acknowledge each person who wrote a definition by name. You can say something like:

“Thanks, Mike, you described employee expectations as…. And Sarah you wrote that employee expectations are…. Thank you.

 After that, let them know you also have a definition and some information to share with them. Direct them to the part of their workbooks titled – WHAT ARE EMPLOYEE EXPECTATIONS?

WORKBOOK CONTENT – WHAT ARE EMPLOYEE EXPECTATIONS?

Give them 5-minutes to read the information there.

After 5-minutes, stop them and ask for any comments or questions about what they’ve just read. Listen to any questions or comments they have. If necessary, respond (appropriately) to them.

Next, tell them that together you are going to discuss, how to set clear expectations.

In the next part of the session (in the next post), the participants will explore how to set clear expectations.



Setting Expectations – Introducing the Session

INTRODUCTION

Setting expectations is necessary to help employees be clear about what is expected of them in their roles. It also equips new and existing employees to succeed. Employees who know what is expected of them tend to be more engaged, productive, and satisfied at work. That’s why it is important for managers to be able to set expectations for their team members. In this session, participants will explore what expectations are and how to set them.

DELIVERY MODE

  • Virtual

DURATION (ESTIMATED)

  • 3 hours

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After going through this session, participants will be able to:

  • describe what employee expectations are
  • set clear employee expectations
  • communicate employee expectations effectively

WORKBOOK

  • Yes

PREPARATION

  • None

PREREQUISITES

  • None

INTRODUCE THE SESSION

Introduce the session by sharing the learning objectives with them. Display the slide titled – LEARNING OBJECTIVES.

After displaying the slide, tell them that:

  • During this session, we will explore setting expectations.
  • We will start by looking at what employee expectations are.
  • Then we will discuss some actions we can take to set clear employee expectations.
  • Finally, we will look at what is involved in communicating employee expectations effectively.

After the introduction, move on to the first part of the session to discuss what employee expectations are.

In the next part of the session (in the next post), the participants will explore what expectations are.

SETTING EXPECTATIONs AND MANAGING PERFORMANCE

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I had the privilege of delivering a Setting Expectations and Managing Performance virtual training session to a set of managers today. The session which was 2-hours long was attended by five participants. I’m sure when you hear 2-hours, you’re probably thinking, “that’s too long!”. The time was not even enough and that was partly due to the rich discussion that ensued during the course.

During the session we focused on:

  • Setting performance focused expectations such as SMART objectives
  • Agree behavioural expectations as a Team
  • A simple managing performance cycle (An image of the cycle is below)
  • Giving feedback using the Situation, Behaviour, Impact (SBI) framework

Slide8

We had the opportunity to practice setting expectations and giving feedback using some scenarios which I put into a workbook I sent to them prior to the session.

So, what did I learn from delivwering the session:

  • It was easier for managers to attend since it was just 2-hours since they did not need to travel and that showed in how relaxed they looked.
  • Being able to manage discussions is very important as they can take up a lot of time but at the same time discussions are probably the most effective learning tool in a virtual session.
  • Prepare, prepare and prepare some more. I had some typos in the workbook which I didn’t like (my bad).
  • Listen to the participants, even you as a facilitator will learn a lot from them.
  • Have fun, don’t make it too serious.

For me, the most important aspect of the course was something I call, “My Managing Performance MOT”. This is kind of like a self-reflective activity where the delegates answer “Yes“, “No” or “Not Sure” to a set of questions related to aspects of managing performance discussed during the session. The aim of this activity was to challenge them to think about:

  • what they should start doing,
  • what they should stop doing, and
  • what they should continue doing.

I first used the activity for a Managing Wellbeing session I delivered last week to another group of managers and it worked well, so I decided to include it in this session also, but with questions relevant to the topics covered.

Overall, I believe it was a useful session and I am expecting some feedback to make it even better.