By Chad Kearns
Published on August 16, 2024
We deliver Sparked every-other-week, focusing on what drives organizational culture and engagement. This newsletter is for leaders who are ready to get intentional about bringing their team together, building engagement, and harnessing the power of culture to build high-performing teams that drive remarkable results. Sign up here to get every edition of Sparked delivered straight to your inbox.
Engage your Team by Eliminating Implicit Expectations
Implicit expectations are dangerous, culture-eroding, and performance-draining.
Unfortunately, implicit expectations in the workplace exist far more commonly than they should and as leaders, we often miss on setting clear expectations for our team members.
Before diving too far into implicit expectations and why removing them will help you build a higher-performing team, let’s get on the same page about what implicit expectations are.
Implicit expectations are the invisible, often unspoken assumptions that an individual holds for someone else.
Oftentimes, and especially in the workplace, these implicit expectations are assumptions that leaders hold for their team members that are not communicated often enough or even at all.
The gap between what team members believe is expected of them (explicit expectations) and what is actually expected of them (explicit + implicit expectations) is where the danger lies when working to build a high-performing team.
Unspoken expectations often lead to disappointment, misunderstanding, and even resentment. All of that erodes trust and healthy working relationships.
Leaders who close the gap by eliminating their implicit expectations for their team members can take advantage of an opportunity to bring their team closer together, building engagement, and, ultimately, driving higher performance.
Looking for ways to fire up your team members and build a high-performing team?
Eliminate your implicit expectations of them.
Take Action to Eliminate Implicit Expectations
Still trying to figure out where to start? Here’s how to take action today:
- Compile ALL of your Expectations: Easier said than done, but eliminating implicit expectations starts with compiling all of the expectations you hold for your collective team and individual team members. These expectations can be KPI-based, process-based, behavioral-based, or values-based. Create a full list of your expectations and document them so you can come back to them regularly.
- Identify What’s Already Explicit: Hopefully, many of the expectations you hold for your team and team members are explicitly known—meaning that those expectations have been communicated clearly and directly many times, are fully understood by your team, and may be already baked into the culture of your organization. Explicit, spoken expectations build a healthy and thriving organizational culture. Don’t want to stop communicating explicitly-known expectations, but having a good grip on what’s already understood is important.
- Identify What’s Currently Implicit: I bet you hold a few implicit expectations for those around you. It’s critically important to identify what expectations you hold that are unspoken and implicit to an individual team member or your collective team. These implicitly held expectations create a dangerous gap that often erodes trust, culture, and, ultimately, performance.
- Communicate What’s Unspoken and Implicit: It might not be easy, but it is crucial to find the right opportunities, mediums, frequencies, and timing to communicate the implicit expectations that you presently hold. Hold yourself accountable here. Moving implicit expectations to explicit for your team members will move them forward in a meaningful way. People want to know what’s expected of them and if they are hitting or missing the mark. Implicitly-held expectations give your team members little chance of meeting your full expectations. Communicate and communicate over again until those implicit expectations are well-known, understood, and adopted.
Further Exploration on Holding Yourself Accountable
Need help developing actionable plans for creating a culture of excellence in your organization?
Check out our Fired-Up! Culture Index today
