Managing expectations in any walk of life is important. If you don't manage the expectations of a subordinate, boss or the people you serve, you may find yourself in a hostile, unproductive situation that will ultimately require more effort to 'fix' than it would have to avoid the situation. As responders know the 5 P's; Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance'.
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As responders we have quite a lot of people who require us to manage their expectations of our abilities, skills, time frames and results. These people range from responders working under us to our managers and the public. It can be quite hard to 'hit the nail on the head' with all of these, all of the time, but it is important that we try do. Expectation management is a 'two-way street', though in this article we will just look at why it is important.
Our subordinates need to understand whether the expectations they have are realistic or unrealistic. This can span everything from their wages/promotion opportunities all the way to how they can expect to be treated by peers/managers. If they don't have a realistic view, they can become demotivated, depressed or lazy which decreases the operational capacity of your team.
The public need to know what to expect of your team in many different aspects. Common ones that lead to complaints/lack of trust may be a misunderstanding of your turnout time, operational ability of members and interventions you can make. If the public think that once they put down the phone after calling for help and they expect 30 doctors in a moveable ER to arrive in 30 seconds - then they are set up for disappointment. If you manage the publics expectations well, you can avoid a backlash of criticism due to ignorance and also get them to take responsbilty for personal safety as they better understand the service you provide.
Managers really need to to have their expectations managed, usually the poor ones require more expectation management than others. Being clear on time frames, end result and the resources you require to do a task will allow them to facilitate you without being 'on your back' all the time. It will also improve their view of you and your team as they will have a frank understanding of your work.
With all the 'stakeholders' you have to manage the expectations, sometimes have to build them up or bring them down. Don't go for either extreme always try to 'be on the money'.
Having an open and collaborative environment is one of the reasons we built Decisions [D4H] - Multi-Award Winning Emergency Response Team Software.
Written by Adam Scott, [D4H] Customer Success Dept, EMT & SAR Responder
