Managers who have unrealistic expectations are, of course, stressing their subordinates. And the expectations do not have to involve only performance requirements. You may expect your people to do something they cannot give you even if they perform at their best. What should you not expect?
That is the question Mark Sanborn, American expert on leadership development, focused on in an interesting article on Entrepreneur.com. Based on his experience from working with managers from leading U.S. companies, Sanborn advised to avoid the following absurd expectations.
Respect and trust
Your people cannot respect you if you do not respect them. You have to earn respect and trust through your behavior, do not automatically expect it based on your function.
Constant praise
A big ego is usually a big problem. A manager should not expect constant applause and he should certainly not heal his frustration with the lack of praise on employees or clients.
Automatic sacrifices
Everyone has to sacrifice something from time to time. For example when a company has problems, a time may come when you will need to ask employees to agree with salary reductions. However, it is necessary to tell them when the situation improves again so that their sacrifice is not meaningless.
Friendship
A manager can treat his subordinates as friends, but should not expect to be real friends. Good cooperation and friendship are two different things.
-kk-