Are You Setting Your New Hires Up To Fail?
Are your performance reviews a dreaded annual event? In this episode, Andrea and Michelle challenge the traditional approach to performance evaluations. They reveal why many businesses are missing the mark and how to transform reviews into valuable developmental conversations.
Discover the pitfalls of event-based reviews, comparing employees against each other, and relying solely on self-evaluations. Learn how to shift from judgment to development with regular check-ins, monthly one-on-ones, and a focus on future growth. Andrea and Michelle discuss the importance of setting clear expectations, delegating tasks for skill development, and recognizing discretionary effort.
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Setting Employee Expectations: AreYou Setting Up Your New Hires to Fail?
A newly hired employee walks into their role, brimming with enthusiasm and a desire to contribute. Weeks later, that same employee is lost, confused, and struggling to meet vague, ill-defined targets. In today's dynamic and fast-paced workplace, the necessity of clearly setting employee expectations from the outset cannot be overstated.
At Revela, we believe the cornerstone of a thriving organization is establishing clear, well-defined expectations. On our most recent Leadership Hustle podcast episode, we asked if managers are unintentionally setting their new hires up for failure by neglecting to provide clear and comprehensive guidelines. We discussed how a lack of clear expectations can lead to frustration, inefficiency, and ultimately, a high employee turnover rate.
The Lack of Clear Expectations
A common and often damaging misconception is that a standard job description is sufficient for outlining employee responsibilities. However, as Michelle Hill points out, “Those job descriptions sometimes are not written the most clear, and it doesn't draw a picture for people more often than not.”
Simply listing tasks and responsibilities fails to provide the "big picture," leaving employees unclear about their overall role, their impact on the organization, and their trajectory within the company. This lack of context creates ambiguity and hurts their ability to prioritize and perform effectively, ultimately impacting employee accountability.
Many managers shy away from setting clear expectations out of a misguided fear of "stressing" their employees. “They just don't want to create fear or stress,” Hill explains. “So they soften up, lighten up that expectation, lower the expectations.”
This well-intentioned but ultimately counterproductive approach leads to lowered performance standards, a lack of employee accountability, and a general sense of aimlessness. When employees don't know what's expected of them, they cannot be held accountable for their performance, and workplace expectations become murky.
Another pitfall is the tendency of managers to retain responsibilities that should be delegated to their team members. “They're lowering those expectations and they're also keeping responsibility of things that really belonged to the other role,” Hill notes.
This not only limits employee development and growth but also overwhelms managers, preventing them from focusing on strategic initiatives and high-level tasks. A lack of delegation leads to confusion in workplace expectations and a sense of distrust.
Backwards Planning and Long-Term Vision
To address this issue, Andrea Fredrickson advocates for a proactive approach, emphasizing the importance of "beginning with the end in mind." She stresses the need for managers to create a comprehensive two-year roadmap for new employees. “I want you to paint a picture of what the next two years are going to be for this employee,” she advises.
This process involves setting clear and measurable performance goals for two years, one year, 180 days, and 90 days. “In reality, what I'm saying is ‘Here's your two-year growth plan, but it includes all the expectations of the job responsibilities,” Fredrickson explains. A long-term view provides employees with a clear understanding of their trajectory within the organization, promoting employee development and motivating them to achieve their full potential.
Understanding the organization's budget cycles and long-term strategic experiences is also vital to this process, particularly for management roles. This knowledge allows managers to align employee expectations with the company's overall goals and objectives, ensuring that performance goals are relevant and achievable.
Implementing Clear Expectations in Onboarding
Fredrickson recounted a conversation in which she asked a director for his onboarding strategy, only to receive a list of scheduled meetings and topic points. She noted that his plan was purely procedural, focusing on the mechanics of introducing the employee to the company, but lacking any overarching strategic goals or developmental objectives. This set unclear expectations for the new hire.
She stresses that the direct manager, not just human resources, must take the lead in establishing clear expectations from day one. This proactive involvement serves a dual purpose: it helps determine if the new hire is a good fit for the role and sets the stage for ongoing performance management.
Consistently reiterating and reinforcing these expectations is a core component of effective leadership that helps employees stay aligned with organizational goals and understand their responsibilities.
Ongoing Communication and Support
Ongoing communication and support are essential for employee development and success. Fredrickson highlights the importance of regular one-on-one meetings for providing feedback, addressing challenges, and fostering open dialogue.
These meetings should focus on tracking progress, providing constructive feedback, and facilitating employee development. They also provide a valuable opportunity to address challenges collaboratively and help employees overcome obstacles. Time management conversations should be a regular part of these one-on-ones, ensuring that workplace expectations are met.
Milestones, Reviews, and Discretionary Effort
Breaking down long-term performance goals into smaller, more manageable milestones is crucial for tracking progress and providing timely feedback. These checkpoints should be well documented and discussed in one-on-one meetings, ensuring the employee understands their progress and any areas needing improvement. This approach not only keeps employees engaged and motivated but also allows for course correction along the way.
Regular reviews should be a natural extension of ongoing communication, not a surprise or an afterthought. By aligning reviews with the established milestones, managers can ensure that evaluations are objective, data-driven, and reflective of the employee's actual performance throughout the review period. This transparency builds trust and strengthens the manager- employee relationship.
Expectations as They Relate to Compensation
To sustain employee motivation and engagement, recognizing and rewarding progress is critical. Discretionary effort—the extra effort beyond basic job requirements—is driven by an employee’s sense of ownership and contribution. Managers must acknowledge and reward this effort, as it directly impacts satisfaction and retention.
Connecting discretionary effort to compensation, such as wage increases contingent on exceeding job expectations, reinforces clear performance goals and effective performance management. This cultivates a culture of excellence and drives organizational success.
The Foundation of Success
Setting employee expectations from day one is not just a best practice; it's a fundamental requirement for effective management and employee success. By adopting a long-term vision, implementing backwards planning, and fostering open communication, managers can avoid setting their new hires up for failure and create a culture of clarity, employee accountability, and high performance.
At Revela, we understand that building a strong foundation of clear expectations is crucial for organizational success. We empower leaders to create workplaces where every employee thrives. Listen to the rest of our Leadership Hustle podcast for organizational success advice!
About the Hosts
Andrea Fredrickson
Andrea Fredrickson is a thought leader and consultant at Revela, an organization based in Omaha, Nebraska specializing in the development of leaders, culture alignment, and business strategy for private and family businesses of all sizes. Revela is one of the region's most experienced thought challengers, helping individuals and companies find their greatness. Andrea has built an amazing team by believing that fundamentally people want to be successful and become better versions of themselves.
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Andrea has degrees in education, management, and business. She is the author of Insight Unseen; How to lead with 20/20 business vision. She helps people see things differently, self-reflect, and never stop looking for ways to improve themselves on a personal and professional level. Andrea has spent more than 30 years researching and developing methods to help people communicate and lead more effectively.
When Andrea isn’t working with clients, you’ll find her spending time with her family & friends and making memories by exploring new cities.
Michelle Hill
Michelle Hill is a master facilitator and coach at Revela, an organization specializing in the development of leaders and aligning the culture of privately held and family businesses of all sizes. Revela is one of the region's most experienced thought challengers, helping individuals and companies find their greatness.
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An ambitious leader, Michelle has the natural ability to create forward momentum to build teams and get results. She inspires others to look within themselves and to challenge the status quo. She helps create high-performing environments. Michelle brings a diverse background: operations, employee development, and sales in the steel, hospitality, and consulting industries.
Outside of work, you will see her competitive side engaged in her daughter’s sports and ISU athletics. She loves life, her four-legged companions, and captures all the moments through her camera’s lens.
TRANSCRIPT
Andrea Fredrickson: On this episode of The Leadership Puzzle, we're going to discuss about how far out we should be setting expectations for that brand new employee. Hello and welcome to the Leadership Hustle for executives whose companies are growing fast and need leaders who are ready. Welcome to this episode of The Leadership Hustle. I'm Andrew Fredrickson and I'm joined with Michelle Hill, and we're here today to discuss the topic of expectations. And before you yawn and drone, ah, it is so interesting how this topic comes up. I'm guessing almost every coaching session I'm in, I'm guessing every class we talk about expectations, and it's still a little surprising to me that people are not setting clear expectations, even though they think they have. Right.