04 Jan Set clear expectations now and avoid hassles later
Walking along the airport concourse I checked the departure board for my flight. Hang on a minute, that’s new. There was a word added to the time of departure. Estimated. Such as tiny change might go unnoticed. But the impact is outsize. With that one word, Virgin set the expectation that things might not go according to plan.
Later in the same trip I noticed another example of clear expectations. Rather than a bland warning that riding the light rail without a ticket will earn a fine, Queensland Rail added how much it was. Someone might still choose to take the risk, but the calculation was super clear.
Both these examples share detail. While snappy copy colonises websites, it sacrifices the kind of clarity designed to keep you in people’s good graces. A few extra words is a small price to pay for promises you can keep.
Yes I’d like my package to arrive lickety split. I’d also like to know whether that means tomorrow, in three days or next week? There’s no such thing as an expectations gap. Absent you saying what will happen, I’ll insert whatever I think is reasonable or what someone else did.
Which dooms you to fail. Because you won’t know what it was until you don’t meet it. And by then it’s too late, you’ve eroded a relationship that maybe never got off the ground.
Another example happened during a visit to the Melbourne Convention Centre. Three conferences were happening at once, The place was packed and the cafe over-run. With lines of people waiting to order their fix.
I started to place my order and the server injected a well-placed bit of expectation detail saying, “Hi, it’s currently a 10 minute wait, would you still like to order?” Sure. So I paid and settled in to wait with others who had likewise decided that 10 minutes was an ok trade for a caffeine fix.
Setting clear expectations requires detail and that’s the scary part. It means choosing what you can and, more importantly, can’t do. It means saying it out loud. It means some people might go elsewhere. But if the interaction was based on things you couldn’t deliver they were going to do that anyway. At least they turn away before you break any promises.
Look across your organisation and you’ll find plenty of places where a little detail will inoculate expectations from overreach. Get specific about when. Name who. Elaborate the what. And not only in the wilds of commerce. Detail also matters for workers, with suppliers and for investors.
Diverting potential disappointment into goodwill is never a wasted effort. Unmet expectations can and do drive people away. Annoyed by things you didn’t even realise were on their minds, they leave.
Workers quit, sick of talk that never gets walked. Suppliers decide you’re too much trouble. Investors demand returns you’re not ready to deliver. Customers buy once then head to a competitor when hype proves empty.
Brand is a store of value added or eroded by people’s experience and your promises. So, add a little detail, stay in people’s good graces and watch value accumulate.
And a final thank your for reading for 2024. I don’t take your attention or support for granted and sincerely hope some of the ideas have helped spur your organisation to new heights this past year.
Wishing you joy and peace for the holidays and best wishes for the year ahead. See you in 2025, my next article will land mid-January.
Thanks for reading.