Learn How To Manage Expectations
And You Will Succeed On Your Own
Have you ever dreamed of working for yourself?
It’s OK. Your secret is safe with me.
If you have, you’re not alone. There are plenty of people out there who feel unappreciated or underutilized at their current job.
This is when working for yourself looks even more attractive.
Imagine creating your own schedule, workload, and even where your office is day-to-day.
Sounds pretty nice, right?
For many, this is real life. For others, it remains a pipe dream.
There are plenty of differences that set these two groups apart: tolerance of risk, financial stability, the list goes on.
Within this ongoing list, there is one ability in particular that can foreshadow if someone will be successful on his or her own:
The ability to successfully manage the expectations of customers, users, and clients.
When done successfully, things tend to happen in a shorter amount of time. When expectations aren’t managed successfully, promises are broken and bridges can be burned.
In my mind, there are two ways to quickly develop this important skill:
- Stop making assumptions. If you think about it, assuming is the quickest way to mismanage expectations. When you assume something is true, you are taking away someone else’s ability to communicate their own expectations. Without a complete picture, it’s impossible to align everyone on the same page.
- Start over communicating. This will allow everyone to paint a complete picture as quickly as possible. Admittedly, communicating can be harder than you think. Where one person thinks they are over communicating, another might think they aren’t communicating enough. The safest way to remove confusion is to communicate until the other party gives you permission to check in less.
These two suggestions translate into almost any facet of life. Whether you’re in a personal or professional setting, successfully managing the expectations of others can help form strong relationships and lead to more opportunities.
When working for yourself, managing the expectations of your customers can mean life or death for your business. This is where the age-old adage, “Under promise and over deliver,” comes in handy.
It’s easy to bite off more than you can chew in hopes of impressing your customers. Unfortunately, do this one too many times, and they won’t be your customers for long.
One of the most important considerations when managing expectations is to be realistic. If you’ve determined it will take 3 months to deliver something to your client, tell them exactly why. Not only will they respect your transparency, they will trust you in the future.
As daunting as working for yourself may seem, managing your business will be that much easier if you can manage the expectations of others. Get this under control, and you’ll be one step closer to professional success.
Are you working for yourself? How have you successfully managed expectations of customers or users in the past? Share your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter at @williamfrazr.
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