Expectations are constant. At work. In personal lives. They can power wonderful outcomes, become dead weights that stop progress, or at worst, produce crash and burn. How we deal with setting, addressing and communicating about expectations can make all the difference.
At work, the expectations process often starts at the top with senior company leadership, and then flows to team leaders. My new book, Strategy First, Then Tactics.® How Practical Marketing Discipline Provides The Winning Edge, has a section on leadership, coaching and teamwork. There are pointers and supporting examples, including:
- There’s more to great marketing than strategic thinking, creativity and terrific execution. Of course, you need all those components to be successful. But to truly differentiate yourself and the ability of your company to win in the marketplace, you need a great team.
- Even the best players need the right coach. Embrace your role as a leader. Accept the responsibility. Commit to the process. Communicate. Help the team achieve their best.
- Provide the team with the necessary organization, guidance and parameters so they can unleash their abilities in pursuit of the challenge.
- A crucial element of great leadership is creating the right environment for people to take successful action.
- Be inspirational when you can. Most of the time, though, find a way to project confidence and offer a legitimate path forward that people can believe and rally behind. You can do that without being a bullshitter.
- Although confidence cannot guarantee success, it can definitely impact performance, and leaders should strive to create environments in which healthy levels of confidence can develop and be sustained.
- Sports and business share many success characteristics, including training, practice, studying the competition and interpersonal relationships. Business is like sports: you compete to win and if you don’t think you can have success, don’t suit up.
Here’s a superb, unfolding example of how to deal with expectations in an intense, high-profile, media-scrutinized environment. Many “analysts” of this organization believe they are exaggerated and unrealistic, especially based on past performance.
The organization’s team leader is well aware of the expectations and “noise,” both internally and externally. Consider his philosophy for how he wants his team to move forward, and how it can be applicable in your situation. (bold emphasis added)
- We all have goals. Everybody has goals to be the best at what they can be and to win championships and all that stuff. That’s stating the obvious.
- We know what our expectations are. We know what it is. We know the noise. Everyone knows that everyone is excited about this team and what it can do.
- To hide behind that white elephant and pretend it doesn’t exist I think is a negative. I’m a firm believer address the elephant in the room. Well, now what?
- Well, you’ve still got to do something. You’ve still got to attack the day. You’ve still got to attack your moments. You’ve got to find a way to get better every day. You’ve still got to go to bed better than when you woke up. You’ve still got to attack every single moment of the day and if you do that you at least give yourself a chance to achieve what everyone is expecting you to.
- If you just sit there and look at the trophy way down the road, well, you’re going to forget all the road that it takes to get there.
- So, the message is: embrace it, love it, you earned it. Well, now what? Go do something.
Robert Saleh. Head Coach, New York Jets. National Football League (American football)
Televised press conference – July 22, 2023
The name of the trophy that goes to pro football’s Super Bowl champions is the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Lombardi, recognized as one of sports all-time greatest coaches, led the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s to three NFL championships plus victories in Super Bowl I and II. His quotes and philosophies have been utilized as motivational tools for decades and remain timeless in their simple power.
Lombardi’s quarterback was Hall of Famer Bart Starr. In an NFL Films interview, Starr recounts one of Lombardi’s most famous sayings, which was delivered in his opening remarks to the team upon becoming head coach in 1959:
- “When he walked into the meeting, he looked us right in the eyes and said, ‘Gentlemen, we’re going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we won’t catch it because nothing is perfect. But we’re going to relentlessly chase it because in the process we will catch excellence. I’m not remotely interested in being just good.’”
Harvey Chimoff is a global marketing leader with expertise across consumer packaged-goods brand management, B2B manufacturing, and fractional CMO consulting. He is a customer-focused champion who connects marketing across the organization to drive performance and achieve business objectives. Harvey is the author of the new book Strategy First, Then Tactics.® How Practical Marketing Discipline Provides the Winning Edge, available on Amazon. Contact him at HarveyChimoff.com.
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