Clear Expectations at Work: The Foundation Every Team Needs
What are expectations? It's knowing what someone can count on you for, and what you can count on from them in return. What you'll do. How you'll do it. What the end result is supposed to look like when it's done.
Saying “everyone needs to know what's expected of them” sounds so obvious it barely feels worth saying out loud. Of course that makes sense. Who would argue with it?
And yet, in more than twenty years of public sector leadership, this is the piece I watch teams struggle with over and over. We know expectations matter. We just aren't very good at setting them, and we're even worse at holding each other accountable to them once they're set. They sound good on paper. Then everyone gets busy, and they quietly fall by the wayside.
What Unclear Expectations Actually Look Like
Picture a team with clear expectations. Everyone's in the same boat, paddling in the same direction, toward the same destination.
Now picture a team without them. It looks more like a fleet of ships, each one convinced they're headed to the same place, each one actually drifting somewhere slightly different. Nobody notices the drift until they arrive and realize they're not even in the same harbor.
That gap, between what people think they agreed to and what actually gets delivered, is where most team friction starts. Not with bad intentions. With expectations that were never actually made clear.
The Research Backs This Up
This isn't just my opinion. Gallup, the research firm behind decades of workplace studies, has found that knowing what's expected of you at work is one of the very first things employees need in order to feel engaged, right alongside having the right tools to do the job and being recognized for good work. It's foundational, not an extra.
And yet Gallup's own numbers show that only about half of employees can say with confidence that they know what's expected of them at work. Half.
A separate study out of Florida State University found the number even lower when researchers asked people how clear their day-to-day responsibilities actually were: fewer than one in five felt certain. That same study found that employees who were uncertain about what was expected of them reported significantly higher mistrust of leadership and work-related frustration and were considerably more likely to be job hunting within the year.
Clear expectations at work aren't a nice to have. They're one of the things most directly tied to whether people trust their leaders, feel steady in their role, and stick around.
The Same Team, Two Different Realities
Here's a version of this I've seen play out more than once. A supervisor is pushing out information constantly: every board decision, every meeting recap, every long-term plan. From where that supervisor sits, this looks like transparency. It looks like communicating.
Meanwhile, the team feels out of the loop. Not because they aren't getting information, but because they aren't getting the right information. They don't need every decision. They need the how and the why behind the decisions that actually affect their work. Without that context, it feels like they're just checking boxes, without a clear sense of what those boxes are building toward.
Same team. Same people. Two completely different experiences of the exact same effort. That gap wasn't about effort or intention. It was about expectations that were never actually made clear on either side.
"That gap wasn't about effort or intention. It was about expectations that were never actually made clear on either side."
The supervisor meant well. The team wanted to understand, not just be informed. Neither side was wrong. They just hadn't had the conversation that would have gotten them on the same page.
How to Set Clear Expectations at Work
A few things that consistently help:
Have the actual conversation. Skip the assumption that everyone already knows what's expected and ask directly. What does each person need from you? What do you need from them? How will you know if something's off track before it becomes a bigger problem? These conversations feel a little uncomfortable the first time. They get much easier the second.
Write it down somewhere everyone can see. Expectations that live only in someone's head, including yours, are expectations that will get forgotten or misremembered. A shared document, a simple list, even a whiteboard works. What matters is that it exists somewhere outside of memory.
Revisit it on purpose. Expectations aren't a one and done conversation. Projects change. Priorities shift. What was clear in January might not hold in July. Build in a regular check in, even a quick one, to make sure everyone's still rowing in the same direction.
Ask, don't assume, when something feels off. If you notice a gap between what you expected and what you got, that's usually not a sign someone dropped the ball. It's usually a sign the expectation was never as clear as you thought. Start there before you start anywhere else.
Start With One Conversation
None of this is complicated. It doesn't require a special title or a certification to do it. It requires sitting down, having the conversation, and being willing to hear that your version of “clear” wasn't as clear as you thought. Clear expectations are the building blocks every team stands on. Skip them, and everything you build on top is a little wobblier than it needs to be.
"Clear expectations are the building blocks every team stands on. Skip them, and everything you build on top is a little wobblier than it needs to be."
Where's the gap on your team right now? The place where you think everyone's rowing together, but you're honestly not sure? That's probably exactly where to start.
As always, carry social kindness with you everywhere you go. The world needs you and your positive mindset!
Connect With Me
If you want to consult on training or coaching for your team, please reach out.
269-621-5282
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