Setting expectations means getting clear on the outcome yourself, then putting it in writing with the person doing the work. Back it with systems that create clarity, prepare for every interaction, and agree on the next small goal. When people know exactly what good looks like, they act. Uncertainty is what makes them freeze.
- Expectations start with you. Get clear on the outcome before you ask anyone else to hit it.
- Write goals down together, and use systems so the clarity scales.
- Prepare for every meeting. Your preparation earns the team's belief.
- Expectations are standards. The aim is a team that runs well without you.
Why is setting expectations important?
Two lines guide me here. The first: if you don't know what to do, you are likely to do nothing.
Uncertainty leads to inaction.
The second: happiness is a function of expectations. When I look back at projects that struggled or crashed and burned, every one came down to a lack of clarity, communication and expectations from the top.
Many leaders run around with a disease of more. They are overwhelmed, always busy, hair on fire. That leads to unclear priorities and missing processes, and performance drops. It wears down trust too.
How do you set clear expectations with your team?
My co-host Arturo Gomez has led teams for 25 years. He sees two parts to it: the clarity you hold in your own head, and the clarity you hand to the other person.
- Get clear yourself. Know the outcome you want before the conversation starts.
- Put it on paper. Describe the goal to the person you are coaching and have them write it down.
- Build the system. Systems scale, and systems create clarity. They put your team in the best position to meet what you expect.
- Prepare for every interaction. Give every meeting a purpose, and walk in more prepared than anyone else in the room.
- Agree on the next step. Review what has improved, then set a specific goal for what comes next. Even 1% counts.
What does unclear leadership cost?
| Unclear expectations | Clear expectations | |
|---|---|---|
| The team | Waits, guesses, or does nothing | Knows what to do and does it |
| The leader | Busy, overwhelmed, hair on fire | Prepared, calm and organized |
| Meetings | Time spent with no clear purpose | A purpose for every conversation |
| When the leader is away | Progress slides backward | The work keeps moving |
Why does preparation matter so much?
Arturo believes the appearance of calm, intelligence and organization is critical to earning belief, and belief is what drives your leadership agenda. If you show up without value for the person you lead, you are wasting your time and theirs.
I live this as a podcast host. Thirty minutes before we recorded this episode, I was refining specific sentences of our intro. I might bring ten bullet points and only get to three. The preparation lets me know where we are going. Preparation is what separates average from exceptional, and the people you lead deserve it.
How did Arturo set expectations in a turnaround?
In 2023, Arturo stepped into a business that needed a complete restructure of its organization and culture. In three weeks, the team evolved more than it had in the previous year and a half.
Before a weekend away for his wife's birthday, he met with the team. The agenda was simple. Here is what we have done. Here is how we have grown. What will you do this weekend to keep moving forward? He was fine with 1%. The one thing he refused to accept was regression.
My job is to get them to a point where they no longer need me.
Arturo Gomez, Episode 37
Are expectations the same as standards?
I asked Arturo this, and he agreed. Clear goals, careful preparation and strong systems add up to a standard of excellence. When you set that standard well, the team knows how things should run even when you are out of the room. People buy into leaders like that, because those leaders make them better.
How do you turn a student into a teacher?
When Arturo joined that business, some people assumed he was there to take their job. He told them the opposite. He was there to evolve their job, maybe to the point where they could take his. Everything he teaches them is theirs to use anywhere, whether they stay six months or five years.
That takes leaving your ego at the door. The goal is to make the people you lead even better than you. It also takes experience. Consuming information only goes so far. When you have lived these lessons, you can teach them. That is the heart of the coaching leadership style, and it works best alongside fast, honest feedback.
How do you set expectations for AI on your team?
AI raises fresh questions for every team, and uncertainty leads to inaction here too. Communicate openly about where AI is used and what you expect from it. Let AI help you draft agendas and prepare for meetings, and keep the judgment human. Then build the system so the clarity scales. Start with AI for leaders.
Do this today
- Prepare for your next meeting. Spend 20 to 30 minutes planning every interaction you have scheduled with a teammate. Ask yourself why your time is valuable to that person.
- Elevate one person. Share this page with someone you lead who is ready to go from student to teacher.
Listen to the episode
The Importance of Clear Goals and Setting Expectations
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Questions people ask
How do you set expectations with employees?
Get clear on the outcome yourself, describe it to them, and have them write the goal down. Then support it with systems and regular check-ins on progress.
What happens when expectations are unclear?
People freeze. Uncertainty leads to inaction, and projects that crash usually trace back to a lack of clarity, communication and expectations from the top.
How long should you prepare for a team meeting?
Arturo Gomez recommends at least 20 to 30 minutes for every planned interaction with a teammate. Walk in knowing the plan and the purpose.
What is the difference between expectations and standards?
They work the same way. Clear expectations, repeated with good systems and preparation, become the standard of excellence your team operates by.
Full transcript
Episode 37: The Importance of Clear Goals and Setting Expectations
Welcome to Leadership DNA, a podcast for those who aspire to be a better leader. Alongside Arturo Gomez, I'm Rob Cressy. In today's topic, Setting the Foundation, The Importance of Clear Goals and Expectations. Arturo, what does this mean to you? Well, it's kind of two-fold because you have to really, when you're approaching, and I think on a daily basis when I'm approaching interaction with the team, setting clear expectations and establishing goals is both for you as an individual that's driving agenda, that's trying to bring awareness, that's trying to bring some leadership, that's trying to bring coaching, but also actually being able to put this on paper or be able to describe it to the individual that you're essentially coaching. And so, I think there's two parts to it. It's being able to mentally get yourself as a leader into a program where you have clear expectations and goals of what the outcome should be, and then looking at the particular goal or task or the item that you're really focused in on that you want to achieve with the team, and making sure that they have the ability to establish those clear goals, write them down so that we can get to where we want to go. Yeah, and there's two quotes that immediately come top of mind for me. Number one, uncertainty leads to inaction. If you don't know what to do, you're likely to do nothing.
And then number two, happiness is a function of expectations. And Arturo, I think you nailed it. This is something that we as leaders, when I've looked at projects that have struggled or crashed and burned, it was always around a lack of clarity, a lack of communication, a lack of expectations from the top. And for me, this is why I am so fanatical about systems and processes. Because by design, you're going to hear me say this over and over and over again, systems scale, systems create clarity. And for me as a leader, I need to create these systems for myself to put my team in the best position to succeed so that they can hit the expectations that I have for them.
But so often, a lot of leaders are running around with a disease of more, where they're overwhelmed, they're always busy, they're running around with their hair on fire. And it leads to a lack of clarity and a lack of processes, which leads to degraded expectations and the performance just isn't there. It's also a lack of trust. What that really requires is that, for me, every time that I am going to meet with somebody, there is purpose in that meeting. And I'm speaking specifically, you know, I try to do this on a business level where I might be meeting somebody that I'm pitching business or another contemporary of mine or whatever.
But when we're in a situation where we're really trying to develop and grow specifically the team and to drive agenda, you have to be more prepared than that person in every category to be able to, again, the appearance of calm and the appearance of intelligence and the appearance of organization is critical in getting belief. And belief is critical in driving, you know, your leadership agendas and making sure that you're able to accomplish things. Yeah, and Arturo, I think about the creation of this podcast. And I love so much what you just said, because for both of us, our time is extremely valuable. We've got a lot of things going on in a good way. So we want to make sure that we are executing like a samurai sword.
And even today, like 30 minutes ago, before we started recording, on a very intentional nature, I was going through on specific sentences of our intro, of the way that I bring you in. And I think about foundationally for me as a host, as well as the way that I help leaders become exceptional hosts and create podcasts that they love.
That preparation to me is what separates average from exceptional. Because every time I go into something, I am so prepared, including this podcast where, hey, I might have 10 bullet points and we're only going to get to three. But the reason for this is because I know where we're going. And my preparation allows me to show up with a level of excellence that vibrates in everything that I do, because that's what I would want out of you.
And quite frankly, Arturo, this is what you deserve. Because I don't take lightly that I am doing this with you. And everything we do is a reflection of our brand. So for me, showing up as the best version of myself includes my preparation in being the best version of myself, all the way down to the podcast that we deliver, the lines that we speak on the intro, and each of the bullet points that we hit.
You know, listen, the idea or the premise behind leadership is that you are teaching, people are learning, and there's mentorship and there's coaching. You have to understand that if you are not showing up in a capacity for somebody to learn or for somebody to be wowed by something that you're delivering that they don't know, then you're not the person to teach them. Then you're not the person to lead them.
You know, so at some point, the aspiration is that the student becomes the teacher. That's why we're there. We're there to get them to the next level. And so if you aren't showing up with value every day, every time you have an interaction, there's not real value that you're contributing. What are you there for? You're really – yeah, at that point, you're wasting time. You're wasting your time. You're wasting their time.
So it's every time that you have an interaction with a teammate or an individual that you're really trying to get to become – you know, to grasp these individual leadership concepts. You have to come very prepared. You know, I have a conversation and some meetings actually that I have set up for this afternoon. And the basic premise is, listen, over the last three weeks, there's a specific business that I've, you know, come into over the last three weeks.
And it's been a complete restructure and overhaul, really, of corporate organization and culture. I mean, this is a real case study that's going on here. But, you know, listen, I'm having a blast. But the point of the conversation this afternoon is to identify the things that we've already grown in, that we've already evolved in over the last three weeks. The evolution that has occurred in the last three weeks has been far greater than they've actually been able to even accomplish in the last year and a half. And so the point is, here's what we've done.
Here's how we've grown. What are you guys going to do this weekend specifically as a goal to continue to move this thing forward? How are we going to evolve? It doesn't need to be 10%. It doesn't need to be 20%. I'm fine with even 1%. I'm fine with – what I don't want is regression. And the reason that I'm coming into this with some intensity specifically today is because I can't be there. My wife's birthday is tomorrow. And so I'm making a decision to be with her, which is probably a safe and good decision.
And I'm not going to be with the team over the weekend. And so the thing that scares me or that I have a little anxiety about is that they're able to function clearly with goals and intention without me being there, you know, cracking the whip, so to speak, or guiding them or holding their hand. Because at some point, we're going to want them to fly completely freely without me.
My job is to get them to a point where they no longer need me. Arturo, would you say that expectations could be replaced with the word standards? Because as I'm hearing you speak this and I'm vibing with it, to me, this is a standard of excellence of everything that you do, which your excellence of systems and processes and the way that you're identifying each of the steps of what was good before and what we're going to do moving forward, this becomes the standard for how you all operate. And for someone like you, even when you remove yourself from a situation, you have an expectation for how everything will run.
But for me, I look at that as a standard of excellence. It is. I mean, listen, it's the, we're all a little different, right? But I think that those that prepare themselves, those that have clear goals, those that, you know, try to blaze trails are people that have a tremendously high standard of excellence. And, and that's also what people want to follow. That's what people want to buy. Like people buy into leadership.
They buy into following a person that is going to make them better. That is going to show them ways to get to the next step. You know, some of the, some of the conversations, again, in the same business that I've been having with people are, you know, they initially, you know, people thought that I was there for their job. I said, I'm on the contrary, I'm here to evolve your job so that you can actually maybe take my job.
You know, I'm not here to do what you're doing. I'm here to show you how to think like a much higher, more advanced leader and how to put yourself in a position. And this isn't just even for this organization or this business in particular. This is what I'm trying to explain to them is that the stuff that I want you to learn, the stuff that I'm hoping that you'll absorb, the stuff that I want to coach you is for you to use freely in any part of your life into the future.
Whether you are with me for the next year, for the next six months, for the next five years, it's irrelevant. I'm going to teach you what I know because I think it's important. And that's, that's my mission. That's my passion. These are the things that I set out to do anytime that I have an opportunity to interact with people. Yeah. And Arturo, as we wrap a bow on this, one of the things that really resonates with me that you said was being so good at this as a student that you become the teacher.
And that is foundational to the way that I coach people in creating not just success in business, but success in all areas of their life. And this is about experience and living it. That so often there's a flood of information and consumption, but that is not air quotes good enough. And that's not what leadership looks like. It is your ability to take that and do the next actions and do this consistently to where you can now from your own experience. And the reason why we're doing this podcast right here is because you and I have experience as leaders for ourselves, leaders as team leaders, as coaches. And in the process of that, we have lived these concepts on a day to day basis for decades at a time.
And as leaders, the more that you live the experience, the more that you can then share that experience with others. And that's how you go from the student to the teacher. And like you said, them replacing you, not you replacing them. Yeah, it's a, you know, listen, and the other thing is, you know, we spoke on, I think on our previous concept about shedding ego.
It's the idea of somebody trying to create another person in their image, so to speak, in terms of behavior, but to essentially be really dedicated to making that person even better than you. That requires somebody who really has left the ego outside and is committed to the true foundations of leadership. And that's really to allow, you know, people to evolve and to grow and to learn. And so I think, you know, that comes with the preparedness piece. I think it comes with the commitment to make sure that people are learning, but that's what it's all about. So Arturo, let's get to our action item or our takeaway. And for today, I'm bringing in an action item.
I want you to share this podcast with someone that you want to elevate from student to teacher, where you hear the concepts in this and this resonates with you. And there's someone else out there that you are leading where you say, man, there's some light bulb moments in this for them, because you know what it's like to be the student. Because quite frankly, we are always the students. But at the same time, we're also always the teachers.
So get this in the hands of someone that needs to hear this. What about you, Arturo? What's your action item or takeaway? I would just say that anybody who's trying to grasp on to what we spoke about today, I think the concept is fairly clear. I mean, you know, being organized, being clear and concise with the intent of a specific meeting or of action.
I would say that if you have meetings or interactions that you know that you're going to have with teammates planned, whether it's today, whether it's tomorrow, whether it's next week, that you spend at least 20 to 30 minutes preparing for it. Like, don't walk into a situation without having an understanding of what the plan is. You know, one of the things, too, that I, you know, push on with young managers and other people on the team is that every day that you walk into work, every day that you walk into work, don't let it just be what we have blinders on and we're tunnel vision and we're going to clock in and we're going to clock out. Make it very specific that there's a what's the goal. What's the goal of the day? What's the goal in which way are you affecting your team or affecting the organization in a positive way? It could be one thing.
It could be two things. But you have to have some level of preparedness and it could be very basic. What is I'm consuming somebody's time? Why is my time consumption valid and valuable to that individual? If you can't answer that in a positive way, you're wasting everybody's time. Wow. So much goodness in this episode. And we would love to hear from you on any of these little nuggets that we touched on there.
Bringing people from student to teacher to goal setting to setting clear expectations.
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