The Operator Weekly: Setting Expectations

As a business leader, it's important to set clear expectations with all of your employees, including your high performers. This is because setting expectations helps to create a sense of clarity and purpose for your team, and can help to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals.

It's especially important to set expectations with high performers because they may have a tendency to push themselves and take on additional responsibilities. Without clear expectations, they may become overworked or burnt out, which can have negative impacts on their performance and overall productivity. Extra work that they may be excited to get after may be helpful, but can take away from their main goals set at your company's cadence.

At a previous job, my manager would set goals during a quarterly review for the entire team. My own OKRs switched 11 times during that quarter, leaving me feeling lost and unsure of which responsibilities were my own.

To set expectations with high performers, it's important to be specific and detailed in your communication. Clearly outline the expectations for their roles and responsibilities, as well as any performance targets or benchmarks that need to be met. If targets are not firm or you haven't set them up before, work together with the employee to set mutually agreed goals as you learn. Make sure to also provide them with the resources and support they need to be successful.

It's also important to be open to feedback and to be flexible in your expectations. As your business evolves, the needs of your team may change, and it's important to be able to adapt and adjust your expectations accordingly. The data might show the team is lagging, but they have set up systems for future success.

Setting expectations can help to improve the performance of low performers by providing them with a clear understanding of what is expected of them and how they can improve. This can be especially important if a low performer is struggling with a specific task or responsibility. By outlining the expectations and providing guidance and support, you can help them to better understand what is needed and how they can meet those expectations.

A way to set expectations for both high performers and entry-level employees in a business might be to create a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs). At Hadrian, we are building out SOPs to create a minimum standard of work. Over time we will raise the bar of expectations. By providing your team with a clear set of instructions and guidelines, you can help to ensure that all of your employees are working towards the same goals and delivering consistently high-quality service to your customers.

Overall, setting expectations is essential for the success of your team, and it's especially important for high performers. By clearly communicating your expectations and providing the support and resources they need to succeed, you can help to ensure that your team is able to reach its full potential.

Thanks to Everest Brady for his help, writing, and research in assembling this week’s newsletter.

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This Week on Think Like an Owner

Our guests on this episode are Johnny Lieberman and Zack Miller, who together founded Worklyn Partners to acquire and grow cybersecurity and IT services companies.

A concept we talk a lot about in the episode is how the two businesses create a flywheel between each other. We find these flywheels fascinating and have talked about others such as the flywheel between media and data with FreightWaves founder Craig Fuller in Episode 121.

Johnny and Zack share how the two business models function both together and independently, where growth is coming from and trends driving that growth, developing sales teams, and why only the paranoid survive. Enjoy.

This episode Q&A features August Felker, from Oberle Risk Strategies, and answers the question, "Inflation is in the news, does that have any impact on insurance?" Oberle is the leading specialty insurance brokerage catering to search funds and the broader ETA community, providing complimentary due diligence assessments of the target company’s commercial insurance and Employee benefits programs. If you are under LOI, please reach out to learn more about how Oberle can help with insurance due diligence at oberle-risk.com. Or reach out to the CEO, August Felker, directly at [email protected].

This Week in SMB Twitter

Think Like an Owner is sponsored by:

Live Oak Bank – Live Oak Bank is a seasoned SMB lender providing SBA and conventional financing for search funds, independent sponsors, private equity firms, and individuals looking to acquire lower middle market companies. If you are in the process of acquiring a company or thinking about starting a search, contact Lisa Forrest or Heather Endresen directly to start a conversation or go to www.liveoakbank.com/think.

Ravix Group - Ravix Group is a fraction CFO, outsourced accounting, and HR consulting firm serving small and large businesses alike. Whether you or someone you know is getting started, searching to buy a business, or building out an organization, Ravix will help on the journey. To learn more about Ravix Group, head to their website and tell them Think Like An Owner sent you.

Hood & Strong, LLP – Hood & Strong is a CPA firm with a long history of working with search funds and private equity firms on diligence, assurance, tax services, and more. To learn more about how Hood & Strong can help your search, acquisition, and beyond, please email one of their partners Jerry Zhou at [email protected]. 

Oberle Risk Strategies– Oberle is the leading specialty insurance brokerage catering to search funds and the broader ETA community, providing complimentary due diligence assessments of the target company’s commercial insurance and Employee benefits programs. If you are under LOI, please reach out to learn more about how Oberle can help with insurance due diligence at oberle-risk.com. Or reach out to the CEO, August Felker, directly at [email protected].

Oakbourne Advisors – Oakbourne is an independent retirement plan consulting firm that helps small companies design and implement great retirement plans for their teams.  Whether you already have a 401(k) in place or are looking to start one for your team, please reach out to learn more about how Oakbourne can set your people up for success in retirement at oakbourne.com/think.

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