Setting expectations with employees involves creating a sense of trust and shared responsibility among teammates, so that there’s no confusion regarding what needs to be done, by when, and by whom.
If your employees frequently fall short of your expectations and you often have to repeat instructions, it might be time to try a new process for setting expectations. In the end, it all comes down to a bit of practice and consideration.
To learn how to communicate expectations clearly to your team, go over our:
- Ready-to-use template
- 10 easy steps you can start following today
- Real-life examples to help you get started
Let’s dive in!
- Setting expectations with employees helps teams reduce role confusion, conflicts, and failed handoffs.
- Make your expectations realistic and tailor them so that they account for each team member’s strong suits and drawbacks.
- Enforcing expectations can get hectic, which is why managers and team leads can use a customizable template to keep track of employee behavior and progress.
Why setting clear expectations matters
Setting expectations with your team is crucial if you want to cultivate an environment of trust and accountability.
The benefits are well-worth the effort, as clear expectations:
- Eliminate ambiguity — Don’t assume anything is self-evident. Even if you think something “goes without saying”, say it anyway. The reiteration dispels ambiguity across your team and allows them to keep going without costly mistakes.
- Increase employee autonomy — Clear performance expectations remove the cognitive load of planning from employees’ shoulders and define frameworks within which their creativity can run free.
- Decrease employee stress — One of the primary stressors at work is not fully understanding your responsibilities. This stress intensifies during times of crisis and change. More concerningly, in Gallup’s 2026 country-level reports, nearly half of U.S. employees state they have experienced significant stress for the majority of the previous work day.
- Increase employee engagement — Additional employee engagement research from Gallup indicates that employees whose job descriptions match their actual daily work are 2.5 times more likely to be engaged.
- Improve overall team communication — Picture this: John from customer support didn’t reach out to an angry customer because he assumed it was Maya’s responsibility. Consequently, the customer canceled their subscription, and coworkers began picking sides. If only their team communication had been clear, this entire situation could have been avoided.
Setting expectations with employees: Template
Making a list of behavioral expectations is pretty straightforward — simply outline the behaviors that are welcome and those that are not. However, ensuring those desired behaviors actually stick is a different matter.
If you need some help getting everyone on the same page, our employee expectations template comes in handy. You can customize it based on your needs and specific team dynamics.
In general, a comprehensive employee or team expectations template should cover:
- The desired outcomes
- The rationale
- Exact deadlines
- Team actions
- Individual roles and responsibilities
🔽 Setting expectations with employees — template
You’ll find it easier to fill out the manager expectation template once you’re familiar with the different types of expectations you can set.
Types of expectations for employees
In the below sections, we’ll explore the core categories of managerial expectations.
Individual expectations
Individual expectations refer to what you anticipate from a specific team member.
Let’s say that your design team has a new addition, and you want them to take charge of all chart designs. So, whenever that employee encounters a chart-related task in their project management software, they’ll take it on, which aligns with your managerial expectations.
Team expectations
Team expectations refer to what is required from the group as a whole.
For example, many projects, such as a product launch campaign, require efficient team collaboration. That’s why it’s important to clarify roles and responsibilities from the get-go, and have some team members working on targeting the right audience, others on copy or creating a social media buzz, etc.
Before assigning responsibilities, managers need to take into account both individual strengths and weaknesses. Failing to do so can quickly derail a project’s success.
Performance expectations
Performance-based expectations cover the tangible job requirements, tasks, and responsibilities of each person on a team.
They go beyond a simple job description — each employee needs to understand the specifics of their work (e.g. what they need to do, what tools they should use, etc.). More importantly, they need to know how their role ties into the broader company goals.
The 3 elements that constitute clear performance expectations are:
- S.M.A.R.T. objectives — What needs to be done
- Rationale — Why it needs to be done
- Actions — How it needs to be done
All 3 elements are present in the following example.
Let’s say the S.M.A.R.T. objective for your sales team is to increase the closing ratio from 35% to 40% by the end of Q2. The rationale is to improve the efficiency of the sales department and boost overall profitability. The necessary action involves personalizing the sales pitch follow-up strategy through targeted research and customer data analysis.
Examples of performance expectations
Common performance-based standards include:
- Regularly achieving KPIs and similar performance metrics
- Meeting quarterly sales targets
- Managing daily tasks without much oversight
- Training new hires on regular procedures
- Monitoring progress toward task completion
As long as the reasoning behind the objective is transparent, employees will understand exactly what they’re striving toward. From there, the performance expectation can be broken down into individual responsibilities.
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For more insight on how to use S.M.A.R.T. goals for business communication, check out this post:
Behavioral expectations
Behavioral expectations dictate the norms, values, and behaviors that employees are expected to uphold.
These expectations ensure that employees are a cultural fit and can successfully collaborate with their teams.
The most important behavioral expectations in the workplace center around:
- Time — Time-based expectations are especially important for distributed teams working across different time zones. These rules allow everyone to stay in the loop without sacrificing their off-hours. Whenever employees wrap up a task by its deadline or show up to meetings on time, they are meeting time-based expectations.
- Communication — These guidelines outline how, when, and where employees should communicate. Using a secure business messaging app to keep in touch with coworkers and a company wiki to find information about company procedures, both fall under communication expectations.
- Culture — Organizational values, beliefs, and attitudes all constitute workplace culture. Examples of culture-based behavioral expectations include being accountable for your work (as well as your mistakes), actively participating in teamwork, and asking for help when needed.
Examples of time expectations
Some of the time expectations you can set for your team include:
- Starting shifts on time
- Accurately estimating the time required for a specific project
- Implementing new workflow strategies to save time
- Completing urgent assignments without compromising quality
- Adhering to established time-tracking procedures
Examples of communication expectations
Your communication expectations might cover:
- Informing teammates of issues as soon as they arise
- Asking follow-up questions when requiring clarification
- Using approved instant messaging apps
- Engaging in respectful client and customer communication
- Practicing active listening without interruptions
Examples of culture expectations
Additional culture-based expectations include:
- Refraining from casual conversations at work
- Following a polite meeting etiquette
- Avoiding an “always online and available” mindset
- Prioritizing agility over slow-moving procedures
- Participating in team-building activities
How to communicate expectations to employees in 10 steps
Follow this 10-step process to set requirements right from the beginning.
#1 Determine your expectations
The first step is to set specific requirements to minimize potential confusion.
Whenever possible, use the S.M.A.R.T. approach — which turns vague ideas into specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives — to define expectations. The more clearly you can define a requirement to yourself, the better you’ll be able to convey it to your team.
It’s a good idea to establish these boundaries right before starting a new project. Instead of just handing off assignments with no instructions, take the time to consider:
- Realistic deadlines
- Who should work on what
- The anticipated project trajectory
After mapping out these details, you can move onto specifics.
#2 Break down expectations into action items
It’s not enough to expect your employees to do a great job. Not when the real question is — what exactly does a job well-done look like for each individual on your team? And what are the specific steps they can take to achieve it?
This does not mean that you should micromanage your team or lay out every minor detail. Rather, breaking down expectations merely means providing general instructions or steps, which are clear enough to guide employees toward desired results.
For instance, if you want an employee to design an infographic for an upcoming blog post, you’ll outline the steps they should follow in your team collaboration app.
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Breaking expectations down into bite-sized action items is equally important when onboarding new employees. For a smooth transition, follow the 30-60-90 rule to set milestone-based expectations. This will allow you to prioritize actions items and establish 3 distinct periods in the first 90 days:
- Learning phase — During the first month, the expectation is that the employee will learn information pertinent to their job, rather than achieve quick wins and immediate results.
- Contributing phase — During the second month, expectations shift as the employee uses what they’ve learned to participate in collaborative team projects.
- Execution phase — During the third month, the employee has a complete understanding of their job description and can complete a variety of tasks without excessive supervision.
#3 Explain the reasoning behind your expectations
Once you’ve laid out the what and how, it’s time to explain the why.
Further workplace engagement research from Gallup shows that employees are much more engaged if they find meaning in their day-to-day work. To ensure your team members find purpose in their assignments, show how their actions directly impact the bigger picture by:
- Explaining how their individual roles contribute to specific project milestones.
- Describing which specific actions support the company’s long-term mission and vision.
Understanding the reasoning behind a task will give employees an extra boost to put more thought and effort into their work.
For example, when setting behavioral expectations for your customer support team — e.g. how they should communicate with clients and prospects — don’t just provide instructions. Explain how the support team directly affects customer perception of the company, as they are the first point of contact responsible for building a stellar business reputation.
#4 Overcommunicate
If employees keep missing vital information, don’t be afraid to overcommunicate your expectations.
This doesn’t mean you should spell everything out for them. But, don’t shy away from repeating the message several times to make sure everything sinks in.
For example, let’s say you have a new set of rules for how social media managers should run official social media channels. A multi-step roll-out will reinforce your message without being pushy.
First, announce the news during your weekly group meeting. Then, create a document with the instructions and post it in your business messaging app. For maximum visibility, pin the document so that it doesn’t get lost in the general discussion.
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For more reasons why overcommunication matters for high-performing teams, head to this blog post:
Hello Pumble, bye messy communication
#5 Listen
One of the essential communication skills an effective leader can have is to actively listen to employee needs and adapt to them.
While deciding how to communicate expectations, take in feedback, and use it to consider the individual needs and strengths of your employees.
The personalized approach makes employees feel genuinely seen, but it also motivates them to excel. This is particularly important when they’re beginning a new task or project.
One simple example is asking a developer to build a new in-app feature. Through previous 1:1 meetings, you’ve learned they’re a functional thinker who prefers to get to work straight away without unnecessary chit-chat. As a result, you skip the small talk and provide them with a detailed design document.
The document contains all the relevant technical details, so the developer can reference it whenever they need a refresher.
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Active listening helps us better understand and respond to our coworkers, making it one of the most valuable soft skills in the workplace. For a deep dive on active listening, check out our detailed guide:
#6 Provide resources
You can’t count on employees to fulfill their tasks unless you provide them with the necessary resources.
This is a crucial step when delegating responsibilities to new hires, as they may not be aware of all the assets available to them.
When communicating tasks to employees, make sure to include links to internal materials and helpful websites. A short DM in your team’s instant messaging app is a good starting point. From there, everyone can pin or save the message and quickly access the shared resources whenever they need them.
You could also create a separate onboarding channel that will act as a permanent archive of all messages, links, and files newcomers will find useful.
Show the same initiative with more seasoned employees, too. Be ready to point them in the right direction whenever they need a bit of guidance.
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Knowledge bases go a long way in keeping documents, data, and messages organized and available. To learn how to create the best knowledge base for your employees, check out this resource:
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#7 Involve employees
Besides your employees’ individual strengths, you should also consider their opinions. Otherwise, you might misjudge their work styles and capabilities.
Involving employees in the process of setting goals and expectations creates a sense of accountability that motivates them to do their best. In fact, work engagement research shows that employees who work in high-involvement organizations are much more engaged than those in low-involvement environments.
Like every other process in your team, communicating expectations should be a collaborative effort — at least to an extent.
Try turning the end of your team video conferences into a group brainstorming session. Attendees can pitch ideas, share constructive feedback, and offer to work on parts of the project they’re drawn to.
When the session is done, review the meeting recording and prepare a plan of action based on the ideas you’ve come up with together.
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#8 Verify that everyone has understood what’s expected of them
Sometimes, when managers and employees believe they are on the same page, it turns out they aren’t even in the same book.
If you’re unsure whether you’ve made yourself clear, it’s best to ask everyone to repeat what you’ve said in their own words.
This step is particularly beneficial for complex instructions, such as when implementing a new approach to your marketing strategy due to poor results.
Gather your marketing team via video or voice call, and, at the end, ask attendees to take turns to briefly describe their roles in the campaign. Their responses will help you gauge whether anyone’s job description needs further clarification.
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Making sure your team is aligned will always be an ongoing effort. For more tips and tricks on how to keep things running smoothly, head to these guides:
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#9 Check in
Setting and communicating expectations is not a one-and-done. If you lay down the requirements and only check back in right before the deadline, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.
A lot can happen in the meantime, such as:
- Employees misunderstanding the objective and failing the task.
- Teams struggling due to unclear expectations.
- Workplace conflict due to unclear employee roles.
That’s why regular check-ins matter — you can see firsthand how well employees are doing and whether they’re on the right track.
So, if you’ve tasked a member of the finance team with preparing a budget forecast for the upcoming year, don’t just stop at setting a deadline. Give detailed instructions, conduct occasional check-ins, and review the preliminary analyses.
As the project goes on, you can have fewer check-ins, especially if you’ve determined your team member has got everything handled.
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#10 Put everything in writing
No matter how certain you are that everyone knows what’s expected of them, you can’t be too sure until you’ve put everything in writing and shared it with the team.
Document your expectations right at the start and leave no room for errors and confusion. If anyone needs to double-check the requirements, they can quickly refer to the document.
For a headstart, use the employee expectations template we shared earlier.
FAQs
What are 5 S.M.A.R.T. goal examples for work?
Examples of S.M.A.R.T. goals for work include:
- Increasing a brand’s LinkedIn presence by 20% in the next 90 days
- Completing a project management course and get certified by next December
- Reducing ticket resolution times by 2 hours by the end of the quarter
- Increasing customer buy-in rates to 15% by November
- Cutting customer support response times to under an hour by September
Whatever your goals are, remember to follow the S.M.A.R.T. formula. If an objective seems too vague or overwhelming, break it down into smaller, more manageable action items.
What are 5 methods of communication in the workplace?
Workplace communication branches off into 5 distinct types, which are:
- Verbal — Using spoken language to share ideas, provide updates, ask questions, and more.
- Non-verbal — Expressing yourself through body language, facial expressions, eye contact, and more.
- Written — Using written words to communicate ideas, feedback, instructions, etc.
- Visual — Communicating via visual elements such as logos, graphics, charts, signs, etc.
- Listening — Promoting active engagement through techniques such as paraphrasing, leaning in to show interest, nodding as someone else is speaking, etc.
What are the top 5 drivers of employee engagement?
The top 5 drivers of employee engagement are:
- Strong leadership
- Transparent communication
- Positive and supportive work culture
- Career development opportunities
- Constructive feedback and feedforward
You can address all of the above points in your employee expectations plan. Fill out the template with what’s expected from leadership, management, and staff so that each employee has insight into what behaviors are desired.
Communicate expectations & lock in team alignment with Pumble by CAKE.com
Pumble keeps many channels of communication at your fingertips.
As a result, it’s easy to stay in touch with employees and set clear expectations.
Take advantage of Pumble’s robust features, which include:
- Channels
- Threads
- Video messages
- Unlimited message history
Communication is just the beginning. Thanks to collaborative functionalities such as built-in annotation during screen sharing and scheduled messages, teams can maintain momentum and avoid bottlenecks.
Don’t leave team alignment up to chance. Try Pumble today and keep everyone moving in the same direction!
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