“I am now clearer on what I can and can’t expect from both an organisation and a boss,” said one person. “Doing this reality check helps me to do really satisfying work.
“In my 20s I got upset because the organisations I worked in did not always do ‘what it said on the tin’. But then I identified what I could and could not expect. Far from making me cynical, this helped clarify what was possible. It provided the foundation for creating my own fulfilling role.”
How might this apply in your work? Let’s start by taking a reality check – then focus on how to shape a successful future.
1) You can clarify what you can and can’t expect from your organisation.
One person wrote the following points after 5 years experience in a well-known company.
Can expect. What I can
expect from my company is:
* To work with nice people – because people in the company are very ‘civilised’.
* To be paid reasonably well.
* To work in a relatively up-to-date environment.
* To get little direction from the top.
* To cope with ‘decisions by committee’.
* To spend lots of time on internal meetings.
* To hit difficulties in a couple of years, because the leaders are delaying the strategic decisions required to thrive in the market.
Can’t expect. What I can’t
expect from my company is:
* To get quick decisions.
* To get some parts of the business to be more customer-focused.
* To get immediate backing for the tough decisions I make about people.
* To get lots of positive feedback – but that is okay providing I am left in peace to do my job.
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Looking at your own work place, describe what you can and can’t expect. Some things will be obvious, perhaps even stated by your work place. Look beneath the surface, however, and clarify some of the hidden expectations.
Be extremely honest when writing these points. You are not making moral judgments; you are simply building a picture of reality. Try completing the following sentences,
Can Expect. The things I can
expect from my organisation are:
*
*
*
*
*
Can’t Expect. The things I can’t
expect from my organisation are:
*
*
*
2) You can clarify what you can and can’t expect from your manager.
After 2 years spent working in a high-tech company, one person wrote about their boss.
“What I can expect from him is: to provide clear goals; to speak quickly, but also expect me to understand; to get straight to the point; to want to be updated on my team’s progress; to prefer face-to-face conversations rather than email; to provide ‘air cover’ that allows me to operate; to be full of energy in the mornings; to be fair; to let me know if he is unhappy about my performance.
“What I can’t expect from him is: to give lots of positive strokes; to take care of my career – though he will provide support and also promote my work across the company; to change the goal posts – unless he is forced to do so by his bosses; to interfere in the way I run my team – unless I don’t deliver.”
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Looking at your manager, describe what you can and can’t expect. Be extremely specific. This is not a wish list. Describe how they actually behave towards you and your team. Try completing the following sentences.
3) You can recognise this reality and shape satisfying work.
You have now done a reality check. Certainly it may be possible to get more from your manager or organisation, but it is good to start from a realistic base.
Bearing in mind your findings, how high do you rate the possibility of being able to shape and do satisfying work? Rate this on a scale 0 – 10. How can you improve the rating? Try completing the following exercise.
Let’s explore this a little deeper. Try answering the following questions.
* What are the positive things about working with your organisation and manager? How can you build on these positives?
* What are the frustrations? How can you manage them?
* Bearing these things in mind, is it possible to shape and do satisfying work? If so, what can you do to make that happen?
Time to make a decision. Do you want to stay with your organisation? If so, then make a conscious decision. If the pain is too great, move on. If you move to another organisation, however, do lots of research beforehand. Clarify what you can and can’t expect. You can then aim to create a fulfilling role.
Try tackling the exercise on this theme. Describe the specific things you can do to shape a stimulating future in your present organisation. It is possible, of course, to apply similar principles to exploring working in another organisation or working as a freelancer. Depending on your answers, you can then get on with doing satisfying work.
Posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2012 at 4:58 pm in Strengths, The Strengths Blog | RSS feed
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December 1, 2010 at 10:18 am
This is a really helpful exercise if you are starting a new job as it sets the tone for the future and prevents the frustrations from building up and stops you from creating unrealistic expectations.