June FAQ — Setting Team Expectations and How to Avoid Frustrating Your Team

One Friday each month, I dedicate the post to looking at some questions I have heard recently from developing leaders. Sharing those questions and my thoughts for them is a way for me to spread the information to as many leaders and future leaders as possible. If you have a question about leadership, or just a situation you would like some additional insight on, please email me at Effective Retail Leader. Let’s take a look at this week’s question.

I have been leading my team for a while, but realize I need to re-establish expectations and reset the team. How do I do that without coming across as a bad boss?

This is a great question, and one many leaders ask at some point. Setting expectations isn’t something you do once and forget. Businesses change. People change. Your team’s needs shift. Resetting expectations is a healthy, ongoing part of effective leadership.

Resetting expectations doesn’t make you a bad boss. Just the opposite. The most critical element is communicating what is happening and why you are looking for changes. Here are a few steps I would recommend you take with your team when updating or re-establishing expectations.

Start With Why As noted above, begin with the reasons you have come to this point and the changes you want to make. This keeps the team informed and signals that something new is coming. Be clear about what’s changing and why. Help them understand how the changes support team success, whether that’s clearer priorities, better alignment with business goals, or more predictable ways of working.

Quick Tip: If you’re nervous about how the reset will land, test the message with a trusted peer first. Practice explaining the ‘why’ before you share it with the full team.

Invite Team Input This is also a perfect time to ask your team what they may be looking for. Resetting norms as well as expectations can ensure that everyone remains on the same page. Understanding how people like to work is a great way to make connections both in the upfront expectation setting, but also in the coaching process moving forward.

Ask the team how they want to receive feedback and how often they would like that. This is also a good time to reaffirm the best way to communicate (i.e., phone, text, email etc.). We cannot always take this for granted anymore, so the best way to ensure clarity is to ask.

Create Space For Discussion Understand where the team agrees or disagrees on the updated expectations and norms. This doesn’t mean you will change what you are looking for, but it does give everyone an opportunity to be heard and say their piece. It can also be a period for everyone to openings discuss the challenges they feel they will be facing with the new expectations.

Set The Expectations And Reinforce It Once you take the steps of communicating and discussing, finalize the updates for your expectations and norms. Share them with the team and anyone else who needs to know, and then begin immediately leading to those new standards. This is also an important step. Almost always there will be some ‘testing’ of the new processes, so you need to be prepared to address those and direct people back to what was agreed and established.

This is a process you can use whenever you need to. I would recommend that having check points at least twice a year is a good idea. Check in with your team to see how they are feeling about how the team works, communicates, and delivers results. As the leader, you should have a sense of how people are feeling, but giving them the opportunity to discuss as a team can be an excellent way to keep all channels open for new ideas and updates as needed. And none of this has to end up with you feeling like a bad boss.

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