See a discussion post on the Intranet, the original text is as follows:

How to manage the leader’s expectation of your ability?

If you do well in one project, the leader thinks you are qualified for similar projects and that you are only capable of doing this kind of project.

SAD..

thinking

Before you start, think about these questions:

• Why do you need to manage the leader’s expectations of your abilities?
• Why is this a problem?
• Is there a difference between what the leader thinks you are capable of and what you think you are capable of?
• So how do you evaluate and judge “your ability according to the leader”?
• Did he tell you personally or through the projects and events he arranged for you? Is it a result or comment on performance?
• Is it possible that there is a difference between what you think the leader thinks of your ability and what the leader thinks of your ability?
• Do you show your ability in your work or work so that the leader can see your ability?

I’m sure after thinking about these questions, you may have some answers in mind. So here’s what I think about it.

[First of all, disclaimer:] The following are only my views and thoughts, not standard answers, nor absolute guidance, just my understanding based on my past experience and cognitive level.

Changing other people’s perceptions is about exceeding their expectations

Let me answer this question, I think, in the beginning, leader in the mind does not have an ability to anybody expected, his ability to anyone expected are based on one thing for a start, to see the matter planning, communication, implementation, results, and all partners of the evaluation of the matter, to judge your ability range.

And, more importantly, the leader will look at all the results to see if you have exceeded his expectations. This can also be demonstrated by the scoring criteria in our performance system: A is consistently exceeding expectations, S is significantly exceeding expectations/job requirements. So, if we just complete the tasks assigned by the leader without any mistakes, that is standard B. The leader will not arrange the work very carefully, but will only say that he will complete a certain thing or project, that is to say, he gives a goal of 80 points. Then the leader does not think whether he can do better in the places he does not say, whether he can achieve 100 points, or even 120 points. It is the place where they exceed the leader’s expectation of their ability.

If we complete the tasks assigned by the leader, we also spontaneously find technical problems in the execution process, process problems, lack of norms, inconsistent information in communication, and existing historical problems. In addition, after finding problems, you will spontaneously think and design solutions and finally solve them, or even incubate A small technical project and continue to do it. Only in this way can you exceed the leader’s expectation, get A and S, refresh the leader’s cognition of your ability and improve the leader’s expectation of your ability. Only then will you be assigned more important and more difficult and challenging things, and then in the process of doing more difficult things, you will give the leader the results beyond his expectation again.

From now on, continuously changing the leader’s expectation of your ability will form the “positive cycle”, which is also called the flywheel by the big boss.

Don’t make changing your leader’s expectations your sole goal

The above is my opinion about the boss’s expectation of my ability, but I also want to talk about this matter from another perspective. In fact, we can not be limited to the leader’s opinion about ourselves, but work for ourselves and personal growth.

As the saying goes, “Other people are hell”, one of the meanings of this sentence is that we are judged by various people in our daily work. It is correct to accept other people’s opinions and suggestions to correct ourselves and make ourselves do better. But if you can’t deal with other people’s judgment of you, then other people’s judgment is your hell. Of course, the judgment of others is important, but it can only be referred to, can not rely on, can not be the highest decision, the judgment of others is not the ultimate goal of their own behavior. Those who pursue others’ praise for their own purposes are bound to fall into the cocoon of others’ construction of you.

In this scenario, your personal growth and development, and even career planning, should not be limited to what your leader expects of you, and should not bet your career on your leader’s values and world outlook. If he is right, you are lucky, but if he is wrong?

Admittedly, the reason why a leader can become your leader is that he must be better than you and can learn from him, but do not be too attached to the vision of a leader. As an old saying goes, “If you listen to both sides, you will be bright; if you believe only one side, you will be dark.” “, or “choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones”, both tell us to build our own values, develop a critical thinking mode, absorb as much information as possible, and then choose others’ correct views and discard others’ wrong ones.

Therefore, for the current scene, it is unnecessary to pursue whether the leader’s expectation of your ability is real. Isn’t it more important to improve your ability as soon as possible and try to become a leader?

My point of view

Finally, I would like to summarize my views:

• It would be best if you could manage your leader’s expectations upward. After all, in most cases, personal growth needs to follow the growth of the team, and it is difficult to have goals and opportunities solely by yourself. “Altruism is self-interest.” Keep a win-win mindset and work with your boss to make progress. You are managing the boss’s expectations on you, and the boss will give you more space and more challenging work, so that you can grow faster. Your achievements will bring more results with the boss, and if the boss is promoted successfully, you will probably be promoted with the boss, which is the best result of growing up together
• But if you can’t manage your boss’s expectations up, or if you try and it doesn’t work, don’t get too attached to it and make it your only goal and motivation. Don’t insist that you’re the only one responsible for growing.
• In a word, it can be summed up as follows: if you can manage, manage; if you can’t manage, do your best; set a good direction for rapid growth; and look for a leader who is more suitable for you to achieve your own success.

I hope my personal opinion can be of some help to you, and I also hope that you can find my wrong opinion from the information I provided to correct my opinion.