Expectation Management is a fundamental skill which is very human! We all have amazing minds which enable us to go and think in a number of directions, and the challenge and also opportunity is to manage expectations of others.

I touch this briefly on an article I wrote in Medium called “The Bottle Analogy” (https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/the-bottle-analogy-2ce4385c5fba) I was focusing on how to establish a common language and picture with a group of people to be able to be successful. But that is just the half of it, when focusing on trying to understand the perspective and expectation of others, especially your superiors, what can make it even harder is a mother tongue language barrier.

There are many modern approaches to be able to align on expectations and move forward, the one most people have heard of is OKRs (Objective and Key Results) which is a simple approach to align on expectation from a general statement with no concrete way of measuring (open for interpretation) and then a team’s understanding and concrete measurable outcome. The process of planning the OKRs is purely expectation management on a layer above alignment.

I have been writing my thoughts here and have a certain expectation for how I will write it and how it will be perceived and also you have come here with a set of expectations and the success of both of these matching or closely matching defines if this bunch of text is valuable. That is how important it is to set and reinforce expectation and also to talk openly in clear and simple communication the expectation of others.

There is a reason that most successful workshops start with “what do you hope yo gain from this session?” Because this enables the participants to align on expectation, to form subconscious groups who share and desire the same and to also enable the facilitator to be able to steer the expectations with their own.

You can also reflect this onto your personal life and probably had “fights” with friends and loved ones purely based on people expecting A and getting B!

Expectation Management is in our DNA, but might not be consciously acted upon! So, remember where possible ask “what are you expecting?” “What are your expectation’s?” and form open and trusting communication on aligning and don’t forget compromise where possible to align the expectations to deliver value!