4 Tips to Set Clearer Expectations and Build a Winning Team

Hey 👋 - Brandon here.

Happy Saturday to 1,615 growth-minded accountants.

Here’s one growth tip for you and your firm.

Today’s issue takes less than 7 minutes to read.

Today I’m going to share four tips to set clearer expectations with your team.

Setting clear expectations is the #1 failure I observe among leaders, both in my firm and firms I consult with.

This makes sense, of course, because if your team doesn’t know how you define success, they can’t possibly meet your expectations.

Why do leaders struggle to be clear?

Because they don’t want to be assholes. They don’t want to be overbearing or micromanaging. They think their ask will be too big.

But by not being clear today, you all but guarantee future pain.

By not being clear today, you ARE being an asshole.

Clarity is kindness.

The good news is learning how to clearly communicate is a skill that can be improved on.

Here are three tips to increase clarity when setting expectations:

Define what success looks like

It’s amazing to me how often leaders fail to define success.

We default to “get the work done” without taking a breath to ask if everyone is clear on what winning the game looks like.

Let’s take a tax return for example.

You might direct your team to get the return done by the deadline in your workflow software and you might say the return must be 100% complete or 100% quality.

I hate to tell you, that’s not clear.

Is it okay if the preparer goes 3x over budget but delivers 100% quality?

What if the return is high quality from a risk perspective but the team transposed the client’s SSN and the client catches it?

Each person on your team needs to know exactly how you define success for their individual role and the team as a whole.

Here’s how you can add clarity in this situation:

• The tax return must be complete by the deadline in the workflow software

• Complete means the client’s demographic information has been reviewed and confirmed by each staff level (because clients hate us messing this up), all docs provided by client have been reviewed and categorized, and all special situations (defined by X, Y, Z) have been signed off on by a partner

• To meet the deadline, the return must be through 2nd review by X, 1st level review by Y, and prep by Z.

• To meet the prep deadline, we need to have all docs collected and the kick off call done by A.

• We typically see prep struggle on these types of returns, so if prep takes longer than X, stop and get senior help.

• I will be quite disappointed if prep does not seek help and blows the deadline because that will make everything downstream late. It will tell me you didn’t listen on this meeting and I will wonder if you can be successful in this role.

State the delivery method, time, and date

Strive to be crystal clear when setting deadlines.

Weak language here might look like “let’s get it done this week // next week” or “this is something that needs to be done soon.”

None of these statements are clear.

Always, and I do mean always, state the exact time and day you need something to be completed.

“This needs to be delivered to me via Slack by 5pm on Friday”

Via slack.

5pm.

Friday.

Crystal clear.

You could pair this with “defining success” above to clarify exactly what “delivery” should look like via Slack.

What if you need a project prioritized?

Don’t just say it, challenge your team with a tight deadline.

“This is important to me. So important I want it done by noon tomorrow. Do we see anything preventing this?”

Your team, if they are any good, will list off their other priorities and you will then need to either push your deadline back or help them reprioritize.

Explain what will happen if expectations are not met

This is a secret hack I learned that should be used in one of two instances:

1. Someone is not delivering on promises/expectations; or

2. A project is critically important to you and it must be completed by the deadline

In the first instance, the conversation goes like this:

“Last time we spoke, you agreed to do X by Y. You didn’t deliver on that promise and, frankly, that worries me. It worries me because I know you have the competence to succeed here but if you can’t deliver on your promises I don’t think you’ll be successful here long term.”

You’d follow this up with “how can I help support you to avoid this in the future because I want you to be successful” and if the conversation is productive you probably have a winning employee.

I’d the conversation is not productive, you know it might be time to look for a replacement.

In the second instance, the conversation can be 1-1 or with a team and goes like this:

“Team - meeting this deadline is extremely important to me. We confirmed we all understand what the expectation is and what success looks like. If this is met, I will be elated and the firm will benefit in X, Y, Z ways. If it is not met, I will be disappointed and we will have 1-1 debriefs to give you the opportunity to explain the failure to me.”

This reconfirms expectations and communicates that you will not be happy if the project fails to deliver.

Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Don’t use soft language

I’m kind of concerned → I’m concerned

That worries me a bit → that worries me

Do you think you can do this? → What is preventing you from hitting the deadline?

I’d like to see this be a priority → This is important to me

I know you’re busy and it’s not your fault → You missed the deadline you promised, what work habits do you need to change to prevent this in the future?

I hope this helps you in upcoming conversations with your team. See you next Saturday.

Cheers,

Brandon