Worth Reading – Unspoken Expectations are the Costliest Thing a Leader Never Says

This is true, unequivocally.

When team members don’t know these expectations, they are almost guaranteed to violate them. Leaders who assume the team was told, or should have known, become frustrated and disappointed.

Team members, meanwhile, become resentful. They naturally view it as unfair to be evaluated against a set of expectations that were never communicated. That resentment, once it takes hold, shows up as a lack of discretionary effort and a general withdrawal from the leader.

https://admiredleadership.substack.com/p/unspoken-expectations-are-the-costliest

The post above points out that it’s not as simple as communicating more; it’s also about communicating better and making it clear where the employee is empowered to make the decision for themself and where they are not. That’s the tricky part. Many of your folks may not feel empowered because you never made it clear that they were, so they don’t make decisions that they should on their own, while others feel empowered beyond what they are and make decisions they shouldn’t.  That simply means the lines have not been clearly communicated, and that’s a problem that won’t fix itself.

It will only get worse.

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