Manager 101: How to 10x the Performance of Your Best Employees Using Expectation Agreement Technique

The Secret to Unlocking Your Team's Full Potential: Using Expectation Agreements to Build Trust, Increase Accountability, and Empower Success

👋 Hey! My name is Piotr, and welcome to my newsletter on the building blocks needed for a successful tech product company.

Finding and keeping people in the company, especially good people, is becoming more challenging. The average working tenure for a person in the tech industry is two years. That can hurt, especially If you count the costs of hiring and onboarding a new person after someone leaves.

There is this saying:

People do not leave companies; they leave managers.

It's an oversimplification but shows a manager's critical role in keeping good people in the company.

So let's briefly talk about the role of the manager in a company:

• The manager's job is not just to run status meetings and review the tasks of people reporting to you.

• The manager's job is not just to retain good people

• The manager's job is to keep people in the company and actively coach them to do the best jobs of their lives. 

• The manager's job is to unlock people's potential, literally 10X their performance.

I find one technique is particularly powerful when it comes to 10-xing your people. I call it Expectation Agreement.

What is Expectation Agreement?

Expectation Agreement is a simple workshop method that allows having an honest two-sided conversation about: 

1. what are the expectations between two people

2. how they see success behind their roles. 

The end result looks like this:

This is a must-have for the manager-report situation.

You can also have those workshops between closely collaborating people inside the company, for example, Head of Product and Head of Engineering.

How to do the Expectation Agreement workshop?

Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1️⃣ Invite the right people

👉 If you're a manager: book an hour in your report calendar and send them this post so they can prepare.

👉 If you're an employee and want clarity on your expectations: book an hour in your manager's calendar and send them this post so they can prepare.

Step 2️⃣ Set the scene

👉 If you're in the office: Prepare two different colors of post-it notes, two markers and a room, ideally with some whiteboard.

👉 If you're remote, copy this Miro board I've prepared:

I strongly recommend meeting in the office for this this workshop though.

Each of you gets two colors of post-it notes. Pick colors. One color represents you, and the other - the other person. 

Step 3️⃣ Write down expectations for both sides

Take 20-minutes to write on post-it notes:

1. What can the other person expect of you? (on "your color" post-its)

2. What do you expect from the other person? (on "other person color" post-its)

Here are a few examples of post-it notes for inspiration:

• You can expect me to provide you with timely feedback

• Those can be reverted. As a report, you can say: I expect you to provide me with timely feedback

• I expect you to provide me with a career plan

• You can expect me to report our team KPIs every first Thursday of the month

• I expect you to hold your promises.

• You can expect me to care about you as a person

• I expect you to be as transparent as you can be

• You can expect me to empower our team so you can make decisions on our own within those boundaries

• I expect you to do great things, or tell me what prevents you from doing that

• You can expect me to set a strategy for our team

• I expect you to make mistakes, and that's fine with me

• You can expect me to make

• I expect you to give recognition to your colleagues

• You can expect me to follow our team principles

By the end of this step, you should end with a few dozen post-it notes in two colors. One color represents expectations toward you, and the other represents expectations toward another person. 

Step 4️⃣ Discuss

Now it's time to discuss every post-it.

Take one post-it note and read it out loud, for example:

You can expect me to set a strategy for our team

Then discuss it, for example:

• Does it make sense to the other person?

• Does the other person agree and commit to this?

• What do you both mean by strategy? Maybe you should get more specific here.

Once the post-it note is discussed and agreed upon, place it on the board under the person's name.

Take turns:

• Person A:

  • You can expect me to (…)

    • <discussion>

  • I expect you to (…)

    • <discussion>

• Person B:

  • You can expect me to (…)

    • <discussion>

  • I expect you to (…)

    • <discusscion>

Repeat this process until both of you put all your post-it notes on the board.

Step 5️⃣ Shake hands

Once you're happy about the contents on the board, you shake hands. This is your contract; you both agree to it.

Step 6️⃣ Use it

Document the board (miro/photo) and use it on your one-on-ones and performance reviews. Hold yourselves accountable to your agreements.

Step 7️⃣ Repeat it

Repeat it every six months or whenever something significant happens (promotion, a big change in the team, etc.). You'll be amazed by the results.

Why Expectation Agreement is so powerful?

• It provides clarity: The technique allows the manager and employee to clarify what is expected of each other, reducing ambiguity and misunderstandings that can lead to decreased performance.

• It increases accountability: When both parties are clear about their expectations, it increases accountability for each person to fulfill their obligations and deliver on their promises.

• It encourages open communication: The workshop format of the technique allows for an open and honest conversation between the manager and employee, creating an environment of trust and mutual understanding that can lead to improved performance.

• It helps identify areas for growth: Through discussing expectations, both parties can identify areas where they can improve and set goals for growth and development.

• It fixes performance reviews: The documented agreement can serve as a reference point for performance reviews, making it easier to evaluate and discuss performance against agreed-upon expectations.

• It icreases job satisfaction: When employees feel that their expectations are being heard and considered, it can increase their overall job satisfaction and motivation, leading to improved performance.

When to run the Expectation Agreement?

• As soon as possible with people who don't have their Expectation Agreements

• On one of the first one-on-ones with new employees

• Every six months to iterate on the agreements made before

Conclusion

They say: 

"Behind every successful company, there are people who made it happen." 

No matter how innovative your technology or how fancy your office space is, your company will only thrive with the right people. After all, who else will come up with those groundbreaking ideas, solve those pesky problems, and keep the coffee flowing? So if you want to build a successful company, remember to invest in the essential resource you have: the amazing and talented human beings who make it all possible.

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Have a wonderful week!

Piotr 👋