What a simple question for a manager or business owner. Most managers make the mistake of assuming that their employees do know what is expected of them but they would be wrong. Don’t believe me? Then ask them. You will find that the majority of employees will be able to give you a generic answer but there will be significant gaps between what you expect to hear and what you actually hear.

Still don’t believe me? Hudson recruitment UK did a study of a large sample of employers and employees in 2005 on the sources of workplace stress. One of the top 10 reasons why employees suffered from workplace stress was the fact that they did not understand what their employer expected of them. They didn’t know if they were delivering what their employer wanted and therefore they didn’t know if they were doing their job right.

Most managers that I ask this question answer with ‘Of course they do.’ I always ask ‘how do you know?’ and I almost always get the school ground answer of ‘Because they should!’ This answer comes in a number of formats. ‘They are working on what they are supposed to,’ or ‘they’ve been here long enough, they should know’ but I rarely get ‘Because I have asked them and they and I agree on their expectations.’ Now I say that I rarely get this answer because I do sometimes get this answer and when I do I always find an extremely productive team behind this manager.

The reasons are simple. If you know what exactly is expected of you, you can deliver to these expectations. You will know on a daily basis if you are doing your job well or if you are doing your job badly. If you are doing well then maybe you can ask for more and build up your contributions to the company. If you are doing well then maybe you can ask for more responsibility and possible a raise or promotion. If you know your expectations and are delivering them then you are in a less stressed position as you know that you are contributing as expected.

On the other hand, if you know what is expected of you and you are not able to deliver then you can ask for help. Some may see this as a problem but it is far less of a problem to ask for help and rectify the situation rather than making the matter worse by prolonging a difficult position. So, an employee who knows what is expected of them but is not able to deliver can get more training, get a mentor, get coaching or get a new role, all of which is good for the company as you end with a more skilled and productive employee.

Take the other side. An employee who does not know what is expected of them will either think that they are doing great and will be devastated when you tell them that they are not or will think that they are doing badly when in fact they are not. Both scenarios lead to an unproductive employee.

So as a manager or business owner, sit back and reflect on the following question, ‘How do you know that your employees know what you expect of them?’ Unless you answer ‘Because I have sat down and reviewed their expectations with them and we both understand what they mean!’ then you are assuming and we all know what assuming leads to.