Setting Expectations for Employees: A Manager's Guide

Only 45% of employees know what is expected of them at work, which has an impact on the overall business. According to Gallup, “Organizational leaders are at a distinct disadvantage in getting work done and meeting customer needs if expectations are not clear.”

Employees must know what they need to achieve and the results your company is looking for. This guide details the steps involved in setting expectations for employees, best practices, common challenges, and examples of how to provide clarity to your teams.

Key steps for setting expectations for employees

Follow the below steps in sequence to set the bar for your workers:

Step 1: Start with clear communication

Communication is the cornerstone of expectation-setting. Without this flow of information to employees, they can easily be confused or frustrated, leading to inevitable underperformance. Clear communication involves:

• Using specific language: Avoid vague statements your employees could interpret in multiple ways. Instead of saying, “Complete regular reports,” be more specific with, “Complete the monthly report by the last Friday of each month with detailed analyses of sales performance, customer feedback, and market trends.”
• Encouraging questions: Follow-up queries allow employees to poke holes, gain further details, and keep everyone on the same page.
• Using multiple channels: Different people absorb information in different ways; for example, some may prefer a presentation, while others prefer a verbal briefing followed by an email follow-up.
• Scrapping the jargon: Avoid using acronyms, abbreviations, or expressions that your employee may not have encountered before. Use simple language that clearly conveys your expectations to provide a level playing field for all.

Step 2: Define roles and responsibilities

Disarray occurs when employees are unsure who should complete a task. Are they in charge, or do they need to be briefed by a peer or superior first? Can they execute their section of the project, or are they waiting for a team member to complete a related task first?

Clearly defined roles and job duties remove confusion from the equation. Ensure clarity by creating or revising job descriptions to explain the scope of every role and the skills and competencies required to excel in it.

Digital tools for organizational charts and competency models are essential to this process, enabling you to generate intricate structures quickly. To maintain professionalism, you can incorporate clear behavioral and conduct standards as part of this step.

Step 3: Set SMART goals

Goal-setting goes hand-in-hand with measuring how well employees understand your expectations. You’ll set a goal and then track progress toward reaching it. Choose SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Here’s an example goal:

“We want to boost employee performance by mastering individual role expectations. By December 31st, we’ll conduct one-on-one meetings with 20 team members to clearly define their role responsibilities, performance expectations, and deadlines for the upcoming quarter. We’ll also provide each employee with a personalized, documented summary of their expectations.”

This goal is:

• Specific: There’s no ambiguity here. You clearly specify what you’ll document and deliver to each employee and your goal of improving employee performance
• Measurable: If all 20 of your employees receive a personalized, documented summary of their expectations by the set deadline, you’ll have reached your goal
• Achievable: The goal is realistic within the given timeframe, assuming the manager schedules and dedicates adequate time for each meeting
• Relevant: Your goal ties in nicely with your organizational objectives, ensuring clarity and alignment of employee efforts
• Time-bound: You’ll work toward a clear deadline of December 31st

Step 4: Align expectations with organizational goals

Individual employee efforts should contribute directly to the organization’s success. When this happens, employees are more engaged and motivated as they understand how their roles fit into the bigger picture. Achieve this alignment by:

• Breaking down organizational goals into specific tasks for each team or individual. For example, if one of the company’s objectives is to increase customer satisfaction by 15%, outline how your customer service teams are responsible for reducing response times by X minutes
• Regularly sharing the company’s vision, mission, and strategic goals with your team. Use meetings, newsletters, and performance evaluations to remind everyone how their roles contribute to these broader objectives
• Ensuring feedback connects to company objectives. For example, if the company focuses on innovation, provide performance feedback that encourages creative problem-solving and risk-taking in line with that goal
• Providing a structured approach using OKRs (objectives and key results) or KPIs (key performance indicators) to define how you’ll measure success in individual roles

Step 5: Start early from the onboarding stage

Role expectations shouldn’t be flung at employees for the first time during a performance improvement conversation. It’s unfair to your team members and useless for productivity.

Instead, share expectations immediately during onboarding—provide job descriptions and clearly explain expectations, roles, responsibilities, and performance goals. Use this time to answer any questions and ensure clarity from day one. Put in the time now, and you’ll build a strong foundation for future performance reviews and goal-setting conversations.

Step 6: Provide training to help employees meet expectations

Expectations should always feel achievable. Employees shouldn’t receive a shortlist of demands and think, “Well, how?”

Companies can bridge the gap between current and preferred employee performance by providing in-depth training opportunities, including:

• Onboarding: Initial training programs are the right time to outline your processes, workflows, and essential company knowledge
• Stretch assignments: Employees can continuously further their skills by picking up new projects
• Internal mobility: Moving to new roles, either temporarily or permanently, provides new opportunities for growth and learning
• Professional development: The company can pay for external training, courses, and certifications to upskill employees

Step 7: Adjust expectations during performance reviews

Performance reviews are a chance to course-correct. Structured as a two-way conversation between employees and their managers, they allow space to reassess and modify expectations based on performance outcomes.

Tip: HR may provide managers with other core frameworks, such as career or leveling matrices, to support these conversations and ensure they understand the role's intricacies.

Example: A sales representative was expected to close ten deals per quarter but only managed seven. This result should be a starting point for discussion. The employee may not have “failed,” but rather, the manager had unrealistic expectations this quarter. Together, they can find solutions to support the employee in reaching the target or lowering the bar so they feel motivated rather than disheartened.

Step 8: Measure the impact of clear expectations

Loop back to the SMART goals you set in step 3 and track relevant metrics to understand your progress. Take a benchmark of your preferred metric before you clarify expectations, then remeasure periodically, for example, quarterly or annually, to track your changes. Here are some potential KPIs to monitor:

• Employee performance metrics include project completion rates, sales numbers, and customer satisfaction scores
• Employee engagement scores. Increased clarity often leads to higher engagement, reflected in better scores on engagement surveys
• Turnover and retention rates. Clear expectations can lead to improved job satisfaction, making it easier to hang onto your best workers
• Productivity levels, such as the number of tasks completed or the time taken to complete key activities
• Quality of work, including frequency of errors

Examples of setting expectations for employees

The scenarios below highlight the expectations for three employees based on their current stage, responsibilities, and future growth within the company.

1. Onboarding scenario: Junior Marketing Specialist

You want to set clear expectations to ensure the smooth transition of a new Junior Marketing Specialist into the role.

1. Understanding the role: “You’ll familiarize yourself with our brand guidelines, target audience profiles, and our content calendar within.your first 30 days. Following this, you’ll contribute to content creation by writing at least one blog post per week.”
2. Training and development: “You’ll complete our digital marketing training module within the first two weeks. This includes courses on SEO, social media marketing, and analytics tools we use, like Google Analytics and Hootsuite.”
3. Team integration: “You’ll attend all weekly team meetings and 1:1s with your mentor to discuss your progress and any questions or concerns.”

2. Mid-level role scenario: Project Manager in IT

A Project Manager is assigned to lead a new software development project. The following expectations set them up for a successful project:

1. Project goals: “You’re responsible for successfully delivering the new software module by Q2. You’ll coordinate the development team, set deadlines, and manage the project budget of $500,000.”
2. Team leadership: “You should hold bi-weekly check-ins with the development team to monitor progress, address any roadblocks, and meet all milestones on time.”
3. Stakeholder communication: “You’ll provide weekly updates to the senior management team, highlighting progress, risks, and any support needed to stay on track.”
4. Quality assurance: “Before our go-live date, you’ll conduct a thorough quality assurance review to ensure the software meets all technical specifications and user requirements.”

3. Career progression scenario: Senior Data Analyst to Data Science Manager

A Senior Data Analyst is earmarked for promotion to a Data Science Manager. The following expectations prepare them for this important career transition.

1. Skill development: “To prepare for this new role, you’ll need to enhance your leadership skills and technical expertise in machine learning. Over the next six months, we expect you to complete advanced training in machine learning and take on a leadership role in two ongoing data projects.”
2. Mentorship and leadership: “As a prospective Data Science Manager, start mentoring junior analysts to guide them in their projects and meet their KPIs.”
3. Strategic contribution: “Begin participating in strategic meetings with the executive team to shape our data strategy for the next fiscal year. By the end of this period, you should have developed a comprehensive plan to integrate advanced data analytics into our business operations.”
4. Performance metrics: “We’ll evaluate your progress in this role based on your ability to lead the team, successfully completing the assigned projects, and your contribution to strategic planning.”

Best practices for communicating expectations

Pair the steps above with the following best communication practices, and your employees will exceed expectations in no time:

Conduct regular check-ins and share feedback

Like any other type of performance or development conversation, expectation-setting isn’t a one-time activity. Regular check-ins reinforce and adjust expectations as needed, particularly as job descriptions evolve. Hailley Griffis, Head of Communications and Content at Buffer, highlights how much her role has transformed during her time with the social media company:

Naturally, Buffer’s expectations of Hailley have also grown during her tenure. She started in a junior role, then took on more ownership and responsibility over time.

Regular feedback is key, where growth is a core company value. Schedule performance reviews, 1:1s, and solicit feedback from peers to ensure expectations continue to align with employees’ roles and performance goals. Constructive feedback will be part of these conversations but also share positive reinforcement of expectations that they have met or exceeded.

Communicate changes to employee expectations effectively

The time will come when your expectations have changed, and your employees must understand and feel comfortable with the new benchmark. Here’s how:

• Start with why: Explain the reasoning behind the change and how it aligns with your business goals. For example, you could say: “The shift in our social media strategy is an effort to improve brand awareness and lead generation. Please follow our new content guidelines to achieve our goal.”
• Invite feedback: Offer your employees a chance to provide their input or ask questions.
• Align on priorities: Ensure everyone is aligned on what matters most. Clarify which projects take precedence over others so employees know where to focus.
• Provide support or resources: Bring your employees up to speed with additional training, tools, or the opportunity to shadow an experienced team member.
• Create an implementation plan: Instead of announcing your changes, create a clear and structured plan for how you plan to implement them. This might include timelines, training sessions, or mentorship opportunities to ensure a successful transition for everyone involved.

Document and track expectations

Verbal communication is useful in answering questions or providing extra context to an employee. However, a conversation is no substitute for written documentation that provides absolute clarity about what you want, need, and expect each employee to achieve in their roles. Consider the following:

• Store written expectations for each role in a central, secure location for your employees to access 24/7
• Use a variety of expectation documents, such as guides, emails, performance plans, and project briefs
• Use digital performance management software to easily track progress against expectations

Overcoming common challenges in setting expectations

Roadblocks will crop up as you share expectations, targets, and standards with your employees. Here’s how to overcome the most common ones:

Keeping up with expectations in a changing environment

Your employees finally understand what you expect of them, but it’s time to update these expectations again. In dynamic business environments, keeping up with market changes, new hires, and updated systems is an ongoing challenge. Overcome this by:

• Reviewing and revising expectations as needed. Stay open to suggestions or feedback from your team, and make these conversations a cultural norm so they’re never a surprise.
• Informing employees of any changes happening within the company that could affect their roles. If you’re unable to provide details yet, at least keep them a heads-up that something could adjust the scope of their role soon.
• Offering training sessions, webinars, or shadowing opportunities when you introduce new technology or processes to ensure your employees meet the new criteria.

Experiencing inconsistencies across the team

Perceptions of favoritism or unfairness among your ranks equal disaster for collaboration and productivity. Maintain your people’s trust by:

• Making expectations accessible to all employees. Everyone should have access to the same documentation, training materials, and performance plans. They should also be able to view the expectations for their peers and superiors’ roles to ensure absolute transparency.
• Demonstrating consistent behavior with everyone on your team, regardless of personal opinions or relationships.
• Regularly checking in with each employee, individually and as a team, to ensure everyone’s aligned on their goals and roles within the company.

Being confused by vague language

Ambiguity is the enemy here. Any miscommunication or confusion over instructions, goals, or roles can lead to chaos.

Get around this by providing extra details to build out job descriptions, onboarding documentation, and project briefs so there’s no room for doubt about what you expect from your employees. Always run your documentation past a second set of eyes before sharing it, and invite feedback from your employees once distributed, using the following methods:

• Employee surveys
• 1:1 meetings
• Team discussions
• Focus groups

Set realistic employee expectations and enable success with Deel Engage

Deel Engage offers an AI-powered people suite with multiple features to provide clarity and support for your workforce:

1. Performance management: Enable your people to reach their full potential by providing clear OKRs and career frameworks, then measure progress
2. Training management: Set your people up for success with a wide variety of internal and external program materials, including customizable AI-generated courses
3. Career development: Make continuous growth the norm and plan out progression opportunities for all individuals
4. 1:1 meetings: Allow managers and their direct reports to come together and enjoy meaningful conversations about current and future roles
5. Onboarding: Prioritize expectation setting for new hires, building job descriptions into your automated workflows
6. HRIS: Deel HR, our truly global HRIS solution, is always included for free

Ready to provide absolute clarity for the employees in your organization? Book a free Deel demo today.