Expectations- explicit or not- drive our behavior.

Right now, we are living in unprecedented times, but there seems to be a collective denial that we will “get back to normal” fairly soon. Like somehow this global pandemic will have the same effects as one really long, nightmare-ish snow day.

We need to reset our expectations, and soon. Allow me to provide an example happening right now across millions of households:

Mom and dad of two young kids unable to entertain themselves (say a baby and a toddler) both work in companies as salaried employees. Their companies are feeling pressure to maintain forecasted expectations and revenue projections, so they haven’t shifted any goals for their teams. Their managers are feeling pressure to maintain leaders’ vision but also beginning to see the long-term implications for themselves and their teams. And because their workplace cultures are those common ones that say “we don’t really set hourly work expectations” which means “we really work 50-60 hours a week,” they are both trying to figure out how to take care of their kids while working without any help from grandparents or babysitters, who’ve been asked to stay away as we socially distance.

This might be what their life looks like. Indefinitely:

• Mom wakes at 5am and works until 1pm. Dad covers kids.
• Mom takes over from 1pm til 8pm when both kids are in bed.
• Mom probably goes back to work from 8pm til 10pm.
• 10 hour workday, totally exhausted with no time for other activities like chores or exercise or sitting still in quiet.

• Dad wakes at 6am to cover the kids til 1pm.
• Dad works from 1pm until 11pm.
• Also exhausted with no time for other activities.

It’s week 1, day 4 for a lot of us, and this kind of schedule- which is actually way better organized and ideal than what is happening AND only for those able to both work from home AND for those with a partner who is available- is not sustainable. And we are talking about doing this work from home with kids thing for months, if not through the summer.

We need to recast our expectations.

Leaders, many of our projections and forecasts just aren’t real anymore, and it is time re-forecast. Do it weekly if you need to as more news comes out, and please over-communicate this to managers who should be encouraged to do the same with their teams.

We can also take this opportunity to consider that our religion of overwork doesn’t work in general, and certainly won’t work now. Research shows that knowledge workers shouldn’t work more than 30 hours a week in normal circumstances- anything else has significantly diminishing returns. And who wants an overworked accountant or lawyer working for them? In fact, when Microsoft tried the 4 day workweek, productivity improved.

What if… 

• What if we took a pause for one or two days, had a virtual senior leadership meeting with experts in workplace productivity, and figured it out?
• What if we used it as an opportunity to rebalance and recast, with expectations that you’ll get six really good hours from staff if you support them to build super efficient skills?
• What if this was our moment to make work actually work? 

If we have learned anything, it’s that we’re all in this together. Trust me, I am in this with you. I am two weeks from maternity leave and burning hard to be of as much service to you and other clients as possible.

And, I’m going to push myself to keep it reasonable, too, because we are going to do our best, game-changing, highest service work when we are playing the longer-term game and thinking about people first.

Let me know what we can do to be of service to you.