Having High Expectations For Your Employees Is A Triple Sign Of Respect For Them

Firstly, it shows that you believe in their capabilities.

Being lax with them can certainly make for an easy-going relationship. But it is not a mark of consideration. Such an approach can reinforce the manager’s superiority complex but it doesn’t help them make any progress. If a manager wants to grow, they must believe in their employees’ talent and ask to be challenged.

Obviously, there are times when you have to let your employees unwind and others when it is necessary for you to unwind. But, unlike the pride engendered by a job well done, relaxation is not a sustainable motivation.

Secondly, having high expectations for your employees nourishes mutual respect between them. Indeed, it is because I believe in the capabilities of each of my teammates (and because I consider that the cohesion of a team is the first condition of its success) that I never put them in competition with each other.

My objective is that they give their best – and, in doing so, push me to give my best -, not that they give the best of their colleagues. The only benchmark that is worth, in terms of performance, is with one’s own potential. We can always find someone who is better or worse than ourselves. But we will never find in others the drive and passion to grow.

Last but not least, demanding managers display a respect of their team. Indeed, a team’s solidarity should stem from its performance. Individual and collective achievements, rather than artificial safeguards and entitlements, ensure the future of a team.