The ZALT Bubble
with TONY
But it’s the Olympics…
I always say to myself, ahhh the Olympics what does it matter??? They have no real impact, IOC, WADA etc etc… too many drug cheats, too much politicking… Such a waste of everything…
Then they start and
I LOVE IT!!!
Why? Well despite everything I say and try, I simply love sport! However what really makes the Olympics special, IMHO, is the back stories. The people (and their support people) who have sacrificed to get there, the people who have dreams and fight for those dreams. Sometimes those dreams are realised like…
AUSSIE Woman Rugby Sevens winning GOLD!
And other times they are NOT realised … like the British Judo champion Ashley McKenzie, after he was knocked out of the Games crying behind some rubbish bins (he tweeted this picture).
The emotion of expectation
But what are dreams? What are these back stories? They are the emotions that have developed based on expectation. And it is the emotional roller-coaster of expectation that overwhelms Olympians just as it the emotional roller-coaster of expectation that so often fuels workplace conflict.
How often at work do we hear people say “I was expecting him to ….”, “But it’s her job to…”, “If only they would…” with ever mounting anger as expectations are not met. Despite what many think, we actually have very high expectations of those working around us. These expectations relate not just to job function but to HOW people do their jobs and HOW they communicate with us. When these expectations are not matched we get frustrated and angry. Conflict in workplace relationships rises and productivity drops.
It is how you deal with misaligned expectations that actually matters. What we have learned is that preparing for and managing the emotion is actually the critical first step. This is not something Australian workplaces do well. We tend to be afraid of emotion, do anything we can to avoid it and hence we often don’t get to the heart of the issue.
Do your supervisors, managers and senior leaders have the skills and capacity to deal with the emotion of expectations not being met? There are no GOLD medals for helping conflicting people or teams deal with expectation emotion at work…. But there is a strategic advantage and better organisational outcomes for all!!!
