June 23rd, 2008
It's the peak of the summer solstice,
yet it doesn't seem as though summer's full force has come to be.
June 20th passed with so much as a
peep to welcome in the new season that everyone has been actively anticipating
since our dreadfully-snowy winter. Yet with the temperatures lingering
under 25 C, one thinks that summer has forgotten us and is somewhere
out in the tropics getting a nice tan.
Our expectations surrounding events,
people or things usually come bearing over-the-top criteria on how those
things ought to be. When they don't appear as we think they should be,
we pass them over as our disappointment creates these feelings of hopelessness.
Is that a fair way to operate in life
and at work? Think of the times when you put out your hardest effort
yet were surprised when people said "it's not good enough".
Think of how awkward and defeating
it felt to be told you practically failed despite your effort.
These implications are easily applied
to our working environs. Managers place overabundant expectations on
their people; when they do not perform to expectations they are let
go. A somewhat-decent manner to operate under but if it's too extreme,
then the amount of potential that gets lost due to these expectations
is too much to keep track of.
The opportunity cost of having too
high expectations is much higher than the cost associated with the general
investment given to new staff upon their hiring. Miss out on key talent
or potential, or save a few hundred dollars. Which is more worse?
Before applying unconscious criteria
to whatever it is you're faced with, take a step back and completely
envision whether you're being too harsh or too soft. Or don't make expectations
at all. That way you won't be too awestruck or disappointed upon meeting
or viewing the thing you would have had expectations for.
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