adminreally have a bad thought when singing a Christmas carol. You don’t really think about greed, anger, resentment or revenge.
And so I’m doing a little test this Christmas season, and please join me. When you get mad or frustrated or when your utility bill is slid under your door, sing a Christmas carol. I’d love your feedback. Just a side thought.
Now on to something else. We all love it when we sit with someone and they tell us that they are going to give us five billboards around the city, 10 000 flyers, a rock solid website, a meeting with the President and 50 percent increase in sales all in ONE WEEK.
Here’s what happens. It doesn’t matter if the task is impossible, because there’s something that we have as humans that just wants to hear that there is good news or that tooth fairies exist.
We tend to gobble it up just because at that one moment, it makes us feel like we are moving to new heights of success.
So in short our expectation meter starts to ascend into the clouds. We now put the person who has made the promise in a big mental room of stated expectations and we lock them in there to achieve what they said they were going to achieve.
For example, if someone came and told me that they would be able to build a rocket and fly to the moon in nine days, I’d think they are crazy unless they are on my team and have qualifications from NASA.
Only then I would expect them to be able to deliver (We have a missed deadline policy in our organisation).
Now in nine days when my teammate comes back into my office and tells me “Zach, you wouldn’t believe how many things are involved in a building a rocket. I couldn’t get the topside mechanically silver-studded boosters because Customs held them up.
“Also it seems like the paint that I ordered will erode once the rocket leaves our hemisphere. Don’t think we’ll hit our deadline” I get upset.
Bottom line. No excuses count at this point. I booked my teammate into a room with all of the expectations that he gave me and I wanted to see them met.
Closer to home if someone tells you they can get you a car from Musina to Harare in three days for US$10 000 including duty, fuel, snacks for the drivers and a buffer in case of policemen who catch them speeding, you will be happy.
Your expectation meter has been set and you place the car salesperson into a room with three days on the timer.
On day two you get a call from the salesperson telling you, “Customs won’t let your car through until tomorrow which means it will take another two days.”
The room with the car salesmen and his three-day timeline just explodes. You are in pain because your expectations have been messed with, and now there’s a variation in promise.
How much variation? Well, if it ends up being six days that’s a 100 percent variation, double the time, absolutely horrible.
When we give or receive expectation the meter is set. You can’t change it. So when you’re giving an expectation either meet it, or buffer it with a few days so you can surprise the person that you have promised with a little thing called “Better than expected”.
You will go up in their eyes and you won’t have to be blown up in a room and pick yourself up and put yourself back together.
Don’t make promises you can’t keep, make promises that let you sleep at night and hold a happy smile all day long.
You can’t build a rocket in nine days, so don’t promise that, and everyone will be happy.
If you have based your expectation on a false promise and you’re seething mad like I would then try singing a Christmas carol.
Then next time, don’t have that person on your team.
Online Reporter