I hope that you are doing fine. That is a common greeting. But, like many greetings, it is basically an empty statement. What happens when Taylor says I hope you are doing fine and Sydney says, “Actually, I have contracted a serious disease.” If
Sydney is sincere the follow-up question will show concern and potential support. More than likely Taylor will move on to a non-intrusive topic or avoid the issue (and possibly Sydney) all together.
What happens when the same conversation revolves around an expectation. I expect that you are doing fine is almost a challenge. An expectation commands a response and an interaction. Like the book by Rick Page says in its title, Hope Is Not a Strategy. However, an expectation connects to an outcome. Outcomes are tactical. And tactics are better than strategies! Furthermore, tactics involve work and work implies results.
Connecting expectations and outcomes, professionals regularly talk about expected outcomes. In statistics, an expected outcome ties into probability. An expected outcome is the result of identified inputs representing a series of events (ok to find a better statistical definition). Expected outcomes can be calculated. Consequently, when expected outcomes transition from the theoretical world to the physical, people can predict them and prepare for them.
An expectation can be achieved once the factors are identified and organized. The logic of expectation is what makes them so effective in organizations. When people can predict the outcomes from specific input, processes are at work that can be reasonably replicated and improved. With customers, students, or individual development, exercising control over the inputs, then the outcomes yield powerful forces. These forces are also known as profits, academic excellence and success.
Customers will pay premium prices to have a degree of certainty that their expectations are fulfilled. Students will study harder as long as they expect their grades to accurately reflect their efforts. Employees will overachieve when they believe that they can expect a desired promotion based on their contributions.
An expectation is either achieved or not. An expectation can be pursued, missed and tried again. But, it is not static. It is not an end in itself. Expectations point to a process, then an outcome. Hope is based on emotion. Expectations is based on data. Choose an outcome. Apply a process. Achieve your expectation.
-The Voice
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