Great Expectations

Olivia, our granddaughter, will be one year old tomorrow. I was telling her father some months ago that I have great expectations for her. It was just one of those chance remarks one sometimes makes. He brought me up short when he told me she has great expectations of me too. That puts the conversation in a different context.

I imagine that Olivia and I have pretty simple expectations at this point for one another. We seem to be doing all right with one another so far, since I do whatever she wants. I have found that is the best way to meet what others expect. It’s easy for me to be that way with Olivia, though it is sometimes difficult with others.

It did make me wonder about my expectations of others compared to my expectations of myself. Do I expect perfection of others, while cutting myself slack for my less than perfect performance?

A performance management system I have used classified performance into areas, which included “exceeds expectations” and “meets expectations.” It also included “needs improvement.” Most individuals thought they either met or exceeded expectations. They also thought that others probably did not exceed expectations. It led to interesting performance discussions, since all were competing for a limited salary increase pool.

What I learned was to set high standards for myself and challenge others to set high standards. If we gained clarity in defining and measuring goals, then the individuals and the team exceeded expectations. So have great expectations and fulfill them.

Posted July 4th, 2005 in Learning from Children