Expectations

Many of us fall into the trap of having overly optimistic expectations of what to expect from other people that we deal with. It is human nature to often superimpose our values upon others, and we then expect others to think, behave and do what we might. This is particularly an issue when it comes to organizational management, when some leaders are far more "hands-on," some are more knowledgeable, some more experienced, and some have far greater expertise. Another issue that often arises regarding our expectations of others is that many extremely hard working and effective leaders expect others to be as dedicated as they are, and that often brings on disappointments and/ or hard feelings.

Unlike in business, where upper management can clearly state its expectations of its managers and supervisors, in organizations, the same is generally not true. Most organizational leaders are volunteers, and therefore the reality is that their "real careers" often need to take priority. Unfortunately, because most organizations do not adequately train its leaders, these individuals do not know fully how to maximally utilize their time, and the basics of optimum time management.

Organizational management and leadership is often a rather complex issue. Because different organizations use varying degrees of paid staff, and different organizations assign different duties to staff, if leaders are not clearly trained in what it means to be a leader in that organization, very often, the expectations game causes massive inefficiencies.

This becomes exacerbated because, in most cases, there is no adequate training of the paid staff, either. Therefore, different leaders might have differing expectations as to what the staff will do, as well as the staff's capabilities. Most organizations are inadequately prepared to evaluate their staff because their leadership has never been trained in that aspect of volunteer organizational leadership.

In three decades of being involved with organizations, as a member, staff member, Director of Development, Director of Operations, trainer, and consultant, I am still amazed, that even after all these years, it appears that many organizations keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Einstein was correct when he said that the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing repeatedly, and expecting different results. Again, it's obvious a measure and factor of our expectations!