You get what you expect

I was working with an accountant today... one of my clients. We were fine tuning a new business process that I helped her implement. A frustration about one of the managers approving an invoice came up. She told me this manager approved the invoice when he shouldn't have, so she had to catch the error. Upon further conversation, she indicated that she doesn't like the new electronic process because she can't take the piece of paper to him and look over his shoulder to approve the invoice properly. I got a little confused. If this manager can't approve something properly, then why do we have this manager approving anything? The reason for this is that she has set the level of expectation that if he does it wrong, someone else will catch it before it becomes a problem. The level of expectation fostered a sense of complacency. If we always start a meeting late, people will always arrive late. If we allow some paperwork to be completed improperly, all of the paperwork will be completed improperly. If we allow problems to persist, they will persist. People will only rise to the level you set for them. You need to hold people accountable. If they don't do it right, make them do it until it gets right. If you let them slide, they will. Think of it this way. If you were issued a speeding ticket every single time you went five miles over the speed limit (every single time) how often would you speed? Don't think your expectation will be met if you don't hold people accountable for not meeting them.

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Corey Smith is the Vice President of Innovation at Fisher’s Document Systems where he maintains a blog on business and technology.