A few years ago, a client asked if I could “fix” one of his employees who consistently wasn’t meeting his expectations. Sound familiar?
That request immediately raised a couple of red flags for me.
First, I’m not in the business of fixing people. Most professionals don’t want to be “fixed,” and meaningful coaching only works when someone genuinely wants to grow. Buy-in matters.
Second, I always try to start with the leader. In my experience, performance issues rarely exist in isolation. Leadership systems, communication and expectations usually play a role as well.
I agreed to have a conversation with the employee and found him to be highly motivated to grow. He also saw coaching as a perk, so I decided to go through my coaching process with him.
During our sessions, something quickly became clear: he wasn’t resisting expectations…he was guessing at them. Each week he was trying to interpret what success looked like rather than being clearly told.
A Simple Suggestion
So, I made a simple suggestion.
I asked him to request a standing 9:00 a.m. meeting with his boss every Monday morning to clarify priorities and expectations for the week ahead.
The employee did so and the boss agreed since he was investing in helping his employee grow.
A few weeks later, I ran into his boss in the hallway. He pulled me aside and said,
“I don’t know what you’ve done, but it’s working. My employee has completely changed. He’s meeting all my expectations every week.”
I smiled and replied,
“I didn’t change him. I changed you.”
The breakthrough wasn’t behavioral. It was structural.
Once expectations became clear and consistent, performance followed.
Many leadership frustrations aren’t motivation problems…they’re clarity problems.
Expectation Mountain
Over the years, I’ve found that effective expectation-setting follows a simple four-step process I call Expectation Mountain:
1. Communicate – Be clear enough that misunderstanding is unlikely.
2. Commitment – Gain genuine buy-in, not silent agreement.
3. Consequence – Establish accountability through meaningful outcomes.
4. Coaching – Follow up, evaluate progress and adjust as needed.
There’s an old leadership truth worth remembering:
You get what you inspect, not what you expect.
So, here’s the real question: How clear are your expectations…really?
If your team consistently falls short, the first place to look may not be their performance, but your clarity.
Setting expectations well is one of the most leveraged leadership behaviors there is and one of the most overlooked.
Want Some Outside Perspective?
If you would like to work on strengthening this critical leadership skill inside your organization, let’s start a conversation. There’s far more depth inside each step than most leaders realize.
