Defining Expectations

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One of the greatest ways of motivating an employee is by defining your expectations.  Having strong communication and clear direction will help employees understand exactly what you aim to accomplish.

Put yourself in the shoes of an employee who receives partial and/or confusing directions from the boss.  Desperately wanting to do an outstanding job and prove his or her worth, the employee does the best job possible based on incomplete information, only to come up short.  The unfortunate result is that the boss is not pleased with the work and the employee is frustrated and experiences a sense of defeat.

To get and keep an employee motivated, aim to provide clearly defined work objectives, specific requirements, and deadlines. 

Additionally, if you're the one in charge, communicate any changes or new requirements to the employee immediately.  When assigning a task to an employee, rather than just say, "Here, I need this done by 5:00 p.m." or "please handle," make sure the employee understands the importance, desired outcome, and reasoning associated with the task.

Many employees have no idea why they are working on a specific project other than that their employer has asked them to. 

By defining the expectations as well as benefits and consequences of tasks and assignments, employee are likely to take greater ownership of a task and feel both valued and motivated.

Copyright © 2005 by Bill Roche.  All rights reserved.  All material on this site (www.TopResults.com) is protected by U.S. Federal Copyright law. It may not be reprinted in any form, or hosted on any Web site, without explicit permission.

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