Mistakes managers make while setting expectations

Published by riteshkapur on

Many managers are reluctant to make valid demands from their team members.

To avoid having to impose new requirements on subordinates, a manager may decide to take on the job himself. He reassures himself that his people are already overloaded or that they lack some qualification that he possesses.
At the other extreme is the manager who covers up his reluctance to make demands with toughness, gruffness, or arbitrariness. He may threaten or needle subordinates without actually specifying requirements and deadlines for results. In the folklore of management, such toughness of manner is equated with a preoccupation with achievement.

Too much support and understanding can keep expectations – and performance unnecessarily low.


Performance improvements always seem to call to expand resources or an increase in authority. Overlooking the possibility of obtaining greater yields from resources, managers can fail to impose greater demands and expectations on their employees. And when managers try to demand more, their subordinates are quick to point out that they are doing all that can be done. Thus, all levels of management may share the illusion of operating at the outer limit when, in fact, they are far from it.

Download the file below to understand what are the typical mistakes Managers make while setting expectations.