Managing Expectations: Working with People Who Want More, Better, Faster, Sooner, NOW!

3. Identify Communication Preferences

One method does not serve all

You can communicate goals, objectives, tasks, procedures, constraints, interdependencies, timetables, priorities, responsibilities, and accountabilities—and still not meet your customers’ expectations. You can deliver a solution that perfectly addresses your customers’ needs, and still not meet their expectations. Why? Because for some customers, how you communicate is more important than what you communicate. Such customers are concerned with process, that is, with how well your communication style respects and accommodates their communication preferences. For such customers, meeting their process expectations is even more important than meeting their project expectations.