Managers usually divide their team members into 3 different groups then put different expectations on them. Generally, there are three groups: Underachievers, Fulfillers, and Overachievers.
However, do people really know what group are they belong to? How do they think about themselves? What are they capable of? How far they progress compare to what other people must expect from them? And, why are they treated so different versus other members?
Actually, not many employees can recognize correctly their ability:
- They do not necessarily know how they are performing
- They normally assume they are performing up to expectations
- The evaluation of what a manager thinks they can do versus what that they think they are capable of, may be widely different
- Many people are stuck in their personal development, since they assume they are doing well and do thus not try harder
How does a manager treat his/her employee?
1. Underachievers:
- Give them simpler and simpler tasks (below their pay level)
- Reduce the expectations (below their pay level)
- Reduce the backlog (below their pay level)
- Spend so much time on them to correct their shortcomings
- Do not consider them for increased salary
2. Fulfillers:
- Spend little time on them, since they do what they are supposed to
- Give them the usual amount of tasks and backlog
- Managers set their expectations on autopilot
- The Fulfillers do not understand why they are not appreciated more
3. Overachievers:
- Increase the expectations (above their pay level)
- Increase the backlog (above their pay level)
- Spend more time on them to make team success
- Overachievers (sometimes) feel they are not doing well and treated unjustly, since their manager keep asking for more and more. However, managers always consider them for increased levels
Experiences don’t mean long career. One person who’s in a complex project in a month could be able to gain more experiences than another one on a simple project for years. Honestly, you can’t learn new things if you just leave in your own little world.
A big fish in a small pond will never know what do the world outside look like. The bigger the puddle is the more you will be down below, because you will start to realize “there are a lot to learn”
At RITVN, we want you to be on the path where you start to realize that you are learning, you can achieve new knowledge, there are many things you can put into your brain and become good at.
How about conclusions?
- Discuss for clear expectations, set up individual goals
- Give more feedback
- Using OKRs to set up inspiring goals
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) is known as the best practice of setting and communicating company, team and employee objectives and measuring their progress base on achieved Key Results
OKRs will help discipline our thinking about our strategic objectives, our priorities and how they cascade down to what we need to get done quarterly towards success and therefore it allows us to communicate accurately about what is important to your organization so that we can all show everyone how far we have gone then ensure that we are all pulling in the same direction.
The people who are satisfied with their current deliveries and set their own limits on what they think they need to do, will stagnate and be unsurpassed. The people who think they can do better and then try harder are the heroes that win in the end!
It’s not problem that achieving nothing, but having nothing to achieve!