Imagine a military operation where no target has been defined. It would be almost impossible to succeed. Individuals may feel compelled to choose their own targets to feel a sense of accomplishment, or may take no action at all. They wouldn’t understand how their actions fit in with overall strategic plan of campaign, and therefore it would be difficult to make a meaningful contribution. The same thing can happen in workplace.

Clear expectations remove guesswork that can cause employees to do wrong work, do work in wrong way, or even do no meaningful work at all. The results can be frustrating for you and your employees and can lead to greater problems such as dissatisfied customers, higher costs, lower productivity and profits, lost business, unmotivated employees, employee turnover, or worse, safety hazards and accidents, or in extreme cases, loss of life.

Expectations are given in many forms. A few of ways supervisors and managers can provide targets for employees include:

* Company or department mission statement; * Departmental and individual goals to support corporate plans; * Job descriptions; * Policies and procedures; * Safety standards; and * Leading by example.

At any given moment you, your clients, and employees are dealing with one or other of these challenges in life. No one has escaped from this life untouched by problems, both big and small. No matter how people may appear on outside, they battle with some problem that is unmanageable on inside. The clearer this is to us easier it is to be extrodinarily kind to others.

But if we are also suffering how is it possible to do this? It is not easy, it is a learned skill. It needs to be taught to all your employees. It must be practiced and practiced until it becomes habit. This habit needs to be policy and employees need to be encouraged daily until habit is developed.

Customer Relationships are built on this knowledge. Why people act a certain way is always based on their level of life challenges at a given moment. This includes both employees and customers.