Carrots and Sticks Don't Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles of RESPECT

CHAPTER 9Expectations

“High expectations are the key to everything.”

—Sam Walton

The most common reason that employees fail to meet performance expectations is that those expectations were never made clear in the first place. Similar to giving feedback, supervisors consistently over-rate the degree to which they provide clear, specific goals to employees. Supervisors who get frustrated with employees for not performing as expected have often failed to set clear expectations. In addition to clearly defined goals, you must ensure that employees have the sufficient tools, training, and resources, including information and time, to successfully meet expectations.

During high school, I worked part-time as a night janitor at a local 3M plant. Although ...