Strategies for High Performing Managers: Setting Effective Expectations
Every now and again I get the opportunity to meet an executive that has a great level of self awareness. They know that part of their “high performing” personality is a part of them that is a little “high maintenance”...*gasp*.
High maintenance isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You know what you like. You know what you don’t like and typically what you like is of a pretty high standard…high, but achievable nonetheless.
High maintenance doesn’t become an issue unless there’s a failure to clearly set expectations. To help your team consistently rise to your expectations, implement these simple strategies:
Set The Bar for How You Like to Communicate
The Issue: Many high-performing executives like concise, to-the-point communication. Many effective assistants, project managers, and other roles require lots of attention to detail. This can carry over into communication styles. For you, it may feel like someone is not an effective communicator or doesn’t know how to get to the point.
The Solution: Explain to your team that you like the high-level view for updates and will ask for details or clarification if needed.
2. Encourage Autonomy and Independence
The Issue: If you’re looking for high-level communication then you’re likely also looking for your team to problem-solve on their own. If your high-performing nature has translated into a form of micromanagement then you’re not allowing your team the space to come up with solutions on their own. Instead, they are bringing the challenges to you and waiting for you to direct their solution.
The Solution: Encourage your team to find solutions independently and present them to you before implementing. This gives you the opportunity to still correct the path if you disagree while giving them the opportunity to problem solve without weighing you down with the problem.
3. Create Clarity In Task Assignments
The Issue: High-performance can sometimes mean our minds are always go-go-go with ideas. This can create an overflow of projects and task assignments with competing priorities.
The Solution: Use a task management tool, like Monday.com, to assign tasks while also seeing the workload for your team. This gives you a chance to visually assess ongoing projects against goals, set priorities, and distribute work across your team.
You don’t need to back down on your preferences and standard of quality. Your high performing nature has likely created quite a bit of success for you. It’s just important to slow down just enough so that your team can understand the pace and expectations you have for them. Then, it’s full speed ahead.