The power of great expectations.

Why do leaders incorporate the principle of setting high expectations into their management philosophy? Effective leaders know that people tend to live up to the expectations set for them. Simply put, high expectations lead to high performance. Let me tell you a story about high expectations leading to high performance. A chief executive officer (CEO) was frustrated with one of her senior managers and was about to fire him. She wanted to give him one last chance and hired an executive coach to work with him at a cost of $20,000. The coach asked the CEO for a list of expectations that she had for the manager. The coach took the list, thanked the CEO, and left her an invoice for half of the total bill. On meeting the manager, the first thing the coach did was give him the list of expectations. The manager had never been aware of the CEO’s expectations and was able to figure out what he needed to do to please his boss and be successful; after thanking the coach, he went on his way. When the coach met with the CEO 3 months later to review the manager’s progress, the CEO expressed her delight with the manager’s performance, which was a complete turnaround. When she asked the coach how he brought about the change, the coach replied that he had simply given the manager the list of expectations and then handed her an invoice for the rest of the bill.