Setting Clear Expectations as a Supervisor

Your team isn't ignoring you. They might not know what you mean.

A Gallup study found that only about half of employees strongly agree they know what is expected of them at work. Half. In people-serving organizations, where the stakes are children, families, and the community, that gap shows up fast.

Most supervisors I work with aren't unclear on purpose. They said it in the meeting. They mentioned it in the hallway. In their minds, it's handled. They don’t understand why team members aren’t doing what is needed, and they are frustrated because they feel stuck in a repetitive cycle.

What gets them tripped up isn’t what they are doing or why they are doing it – how they are communicating is the problem. Clear supervisors do these four things:

They describe what good looks like. "Keep the classroom organized" means something different to every person on your team. "Materials are back on labeled shelves before pickup" means one thing.

They say the why. People follow through on what makes sense to them. One sentence about why it matters to the families you serve goes a long way. “When you are proactive with families (the what), it saves them from having to waste time and money that they don’t have (the why).”

They name the by-when. "Soon" is not a deadline. Friday at 3 is.

They put it in writing. A two-line follow-up after a conversation protects you and your team member. No one has to rely on (an overloaded) memory.

This takes a few extra minutes up front, and it saves you the frustration of redoing the work later.

Pick one expectation you've given this month and run it through these four questions. If it's missing a piece, fix it before Monday.