You Get What You Expect – Part 2
I recently shared the story of how Jim Vaught, my middle school basketball coach, taught me to embrace high expectations for myself.
One great thing about embracing high expectations for yourself is you don’t need to be extra smart, have extra money, or be extra good-looking. You only need the belief that you can be more, do more, and achieve more.
With that said, there is one tool I have found to be more powerful than others when it comes to embracing high expectations. What's surprising about this tool is it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with other people.
Wondering what this tool is? It’s doing exactly what Jim Vaught did for me…it’s inspiring and equipping others!
You see, when we help others embrace high expectations for themselves, we end up growing in our ability to embrace high expectations. As Zig Ziglar famously said, “You can have anything you want in life just as long as you help enough people get what they want in life.”
Setting High Expectations – How to Inspire and Equip Others
Are you interested in inspiring and equipping others to embrace high expectations? Here are a few tips that should help you:
- Be specific — Giving a pat on the back and saying, “Way to go,” only works if your compliment is concrete. Therefore, the more specific your praise, the better.
- Be honest — Inspiration is not flattery. True inspiration is rooted in accurate and meaningful insight. The insight can be either encouraging or challenging. Often it is the challenging insights, graciously delivered, that have the biggest impact.
- Be personal — The more individually focused your encouragement or challenge, the more likely it will connect with the recipient.
This tool has been life-changing for me, both as a leader and as an individual. It pushes me to have high expectations of myself and others. And it has led to great development and success in my personal life and in my business. I encourage you to challenge yourself and those around you to do the same.
Photography Copyright: 123 RF Photos / Racorn
Want More?
Great leaders ask great questions — have you ever wondered why? Do great leaders intentionally develop the art of asking great questions because they know it’s an essential leadership skill, or do people who learn to ask great questions become great leaders? Honestly, the best leaders don’t get tangled up in this debate. They just know asking great questions is a powerful leadership tool.
Additionally, great leaders ask surprising questions. They might start with shallow questions, but they don’t stay there. They wade into asking deeper questions that are designed to help team members (and themselves) grow and become better.
Discover seven surprising questions great leaders ask in this FREE RESOURCE, and the more they ask them, the better both the leader and the team become.