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Managing and Matching Expectations at Work

February 25, 2011 RSS Feed Print

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You’re likely to get ridiculed at work if your wardrobe is consistently mismatched. But while the clash of checks and stripes may hinder your career, other mismatches can be much more damaging.

For example, you may have expectations about your job responsibility, performance, career aspirations, or values and principles, and when those are mismatched with your peers or bosses, they can be potentially fatal to your career.

Here are some ways to make sure your career insights and goals are aligned, even if your socks are not:

Know thyself. You have a set of values and principles that are important to you. You may not be able to articulate them well to others but you certainly know when they’re violated. Even your work ethic, if mismatched with the corporate culture, can cause you to not succeed or to get frustrated with the company. So write down your core values and find out what the company defines as theirs. If your company values aren’t written anywhere, ask HR or your boss for insight. Once you find what they are, look for where they converge with your values. This is always a great idea during your job search and before you join a company.

[See How Positive Thinking Can Help Your Career.]

Get on the same career path. Both you and your boss should have the same idea of what you want your career path to be. If you don’t, then ask: “Where do you and the company see me in the next three, five, or 10 years?” Being on the same page here will help both you and the company.

Know where you stand. No one should work a month, a day, or an hour without knowing where their performance stands in the eyes of the company and their boss. If you don’t know how you’re performing against the standards of your boss, then you need to find out. Your career is too short to waste being misaligned on your performance goals.

Understand how others perceive you. We all have a self-perception of how others think of us. Most have inflated views or at least perceptions that are a little askew. Your ability to perform at the highest level and have others have your back depends mainly on a succinct perception of how others view you. If you think you’re liked and respected but aren’t, then you won’t be around for long.

[See 6 Career Decisions You'll Have to Make.]

When I was in second grade, my Mother told me, “Rusty, tomorrow will go a lot easier if you lay out your clothes the night before.” She was right, and it gave me time to make sure I matched. The same could be said about the matches in our career. Now is the time to find the matches and mismatches so that tomorrow will go smoothly.

Rusty Rueff, director and career expert for jobs and career website Glassdoor.com has been a CEO, led HR in global companies and is co-author of Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business.

Vote for Glassdoor as Best Career Resource Website in the Readers' Choice Awards.

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This is a well written article and I will take your advice regarding inquiring about a future bosses / company's core values. If your values are not in line with the company's values, it most likely will not be a good fit (if you can get them to honestly tell you their core values). For most companies these days it is just about making money, but it does not hurt to ask! Some care about longevity and realize that they must first make their employees and customers happy in order to be a long term success.
Another great point that you make is that it is important to be liked and respected, unfortunately it is not just enough if you produce. You must also be friends with the people that you work with, be political and many times willing to be conniving. It is almost impossible in industries where you are expected to be competitive and work through your lunch hour as well as work late! It makes a person think if a traditional "career" is really worth all of the effort / selling out or if it is just best to live on less and be a nanny, take a job in the civil service where it is almost impossible to be laid off, etc.!

Camille of NY 10:49PM March 01, 2011

Do you have some tips for becoming and remaining aware of how others perceive you in your workplace?
I was once in a work environment where my supervisors offered support in principle but very little specific feedback, and those I supervised as a new manager would tell everybody in the system *but* me what they were thinking about me. Trust in a new manager needs to be built and earned, but I had no idea as I got started that so little goodwill was available to me. By the time some serious misconceptions and distortions of my behavior got back to me through the grapevine, my supervisors had already withdrawn their support and I had very little to work with. I was able to improve immediate relationships in my work unit once I understood what was happening and people were getting to know me better, but it was tough going.

A. Nonny of WA 5:11PM February 26, 2011

Very useful points, Rusty. I particularly liked your last point on perception and the importance of how others perceive you. I just read a book titled "The Career Journey" by Ram Iyer which had a lenghthy chapter on brand and perception management. I think I am learning a lot about managing myself as a brand.

Jessica of TX 8:52AM February 26, 2011