The expectation management

Guest contribution by | 07.02.2019

Do you know that or something like that? Together with your customers, you have worked out a detailed specification of the requirements, approved it and designed the product based on it. You are sure that you are acting in the interests of your customers, and yet they do not like the result at all. Somehow – from whatever point in time – your ideas and those of your customers diverged. Both sides are disappointed, a clear case of disillusionment due to (mutual) unfulfilled expectations.

The concept of expectation

What’s that “expectation” anyway? It is an idea of something that has not yet happened and of which the expectant determines individually what should happen – so to speak an anticipation of the future. But we can only influence the future to a limited extent, and the expectations of different individuals are often incompatible. And so expectations are often disappointed. We usually regard expectations as something that others – individuals or organisations – have on us, and there are professional methods of getting to know and “managing” them better. This way of looking at things disregards one essential aspect, namely our own expectations:

  • What do I expect from MYSELF? And how ambivalent are the expectations of the different shares in ME towards MYSELF?
  • What do I think OTHERS expect from ME?

The aim of good expectation management is to perceive and respect the differences in the views of others with as little pre-evaluation as possible and to find an appropriate way of dealing with the most diverse expectations based on this, i.e. to derive appropriate decisions and actions. And so a fundamental principle of truly successful expectation management, namely to develop an attitude, to be able to perceive other people’s expectations or, in other words, to “perceive” them, is often associated with the claim to postpone one’s own expectations – and suddenly they are banished to the unconscious.

Self-knowledge before external perception

In order to recognise the expectations of others, it is important to be receptive to others. To do this, I must first put the expectation back to myself, to know the other and his expectations, or (from a few words) to recognise them. About 80% of our images of reality originate from ourselves (systemists say: “Truth is subjective”). To know the customer’s expectations would be to see his inner images. And my own expectations and my images of reality can overlap my perception of the expectations of others (of me, the project, …). Other risks of ignorance of one’s own expectations are:

  • That I take the subjective perspective of my counterpart and forget myself in the process – the “repressed ego” comes up sometime and mostly unannounced.
  • The missing reference point for understanding the expectations of others: How do mine differ from the images of others and how do my expectations differ from those of others?

Good expectation management is about first hearing the other person as free as possible of evaluation and then understanding (in reference to me). And this requires an attitude in which “I am completely with myself and yet with the other” in a kind of observer role instead of in evaluation. But how can I achieve this?

The prerequisite is to become aware of one’s own expectations (to allow them) in order not to mix them with those of others or to neglect them. Unconsciousness for one’s own expectations prevents listening and understanding and is a situation in which our inner critic feels particularly comfortable. On the other hand, awareness of my own expectations (and that they are just images of a person, namely me) is self-confidence in the literal sense. This has to be combined with an appreciative attitude of my expectations, because they are a part of me – and that also and above all includes my own ambivalences! To know oneself gives security and makes the inner and also the outer critic valuable observers instead of evaluators.

In this way I can develop curiosity for other people’s images that are sometimes strange to me or perhaps – as I believe – “familiar” to me and discover how they differ from mine without losing myself in these images. This allows me to broaden my perspective without questioning my own identity. New images emerge in me. I develop, react to my environment and yet remain “I”. This form of personal (self-)awareness and appreciation, which allows me flexibility in stability, can be described by the term “inner stability”. And out of this “inner stability” I can let go of the expectation that I should know what the customer expects. From the flexibility it also contains, I can react appropriately to his wishes for change – and that also means that I know my limits and communicate them to the customer!

The expectations for the future

Finally, a look ahead: If we continue to think about our own expectations, we come to a point where accepting our own expectations does not only allow us to deal constructively with other people’s expectations (i.e. it is a basis for “managing expectations”). It also allows us to accept a future beyond our own expectations and plans – a crucial basis for dealing constructively with unexpected events and unmanageable situations that we encounter more and more frequently in our time, which is perceived as increasingly fast-moving and complex.

 

Notes:

Top 2019 Blog Post - one of the most read articles in 2019

Astrid Kuhlmey has published additional articles in the t2informatik Blog, including

t2informatik Blog: Is the world getting more complex?

Is the world getting more complex?

t2informatik Blog: Letting go is the new way of planning

Letting go is the new way of planning

t2informatik Blog: How can I avoid uncertainty?

How can I avoid uncertainty?

Astrid Kuhlmey
Astrid Kuhlmey

Computer scientist Astrid Kuhlmey has more than 30 years of experience in project and line management in pharmaceutical IT. She has been working as a systemic consultant for 7 years and advises companies and individuals in necessary change processes. Sustainability as well as social and economic change and development are close to her heart. Together with a colleague, she has developed an approach that promotes competencies to act and decide in situations of uncertainty and complexity.