If you read any of my earlier articles you’ll know that I spent time as an Area Manager for Fitness Agents, the largest Personal Training management company in the UK.
This experience helped furnish me with a lot of new thought-processes, skills, and techniques that have helped form the foundation of the “L.E.A.N. System and what we do at RISE.
I remember in one of my first weeks in that role another Area Manager talked to me about setting expectations.
In this context, it was the Personal Trainers that we recruited for the clubs that we worked for, and how in many cases, the dissatisfaction that rose from personal trainers was down to an Area Manager not correctly setting their expectations.
Unsuccessful trainers may over-time become annoyed with a perceived lack of support, or some other issue.
The other Area Manager explained to me, that this was because the other Area Manager had not properly set expectations as to the level of support and the exact setup that the trainer would find when they started in the role.
When this was done, when the trainer knew exactly what to expect and exactly what the situation was, everything matched their expectations and they would be very happy.
When expectations were not set, it was very easy for someone to become unhappy with a perceived non-delivery of something that they were expecting for some reason.
Setting expectations is something I talk about a lot with clients.
About how the problems that arise between them, and friends, family members, other halves, in relation to them wanting to eat in a certain way, is because the client has not set clear expectations as to what they want to happen, how important it is to them, and what behavior they’ll be willing to accept.
When clients come in and tell me that their other half has been coming home with biscuits, or chips, or take-out, I ask them if they’ve clearly set expectations with that person and explained to them this is not something that is not acceptable.
When a new friend, peer-pressures them into eating in a certain way, I ask that client if they’ve set expectations with that friend as to what behavior is acceptable.
Invariably the answer is “no”.
When these clients and members then go to set these expectations, the other person understands what is expected, and what they can expect.
And, invariably, it makes the whole situation much easier for everyone.
So next time you find yourself getting annoyed with the behavior of another person who seems to have made the journey you’re on more difficult, ask yourself “have you set an expectation with this person?”.
If the answer is no, then setting expectations with them is step 1.
Setting expectation does not necessarily mean sitting down and having a formal meeting and even using the terms “setting expectations”, it just means having made it clear to this person in conversation what you would like to happen, what is important to you, and how they can help you achieve this.
