Expectations

Is it possible that some of our best intentions are ensuring substandard performance? Could we get a higher level of productivity and effort from our Sailors by altering our own perceptions and behavior?

Of course we can. One of the traits of human nature that we need to be aware of is that generally people will always attempt to rise (or allow themselves to fall) to the level of expectation held by those whose approval they seek.

If Sailors feel your confidence in their abilities, level of maturity, work ethic etc. they will move towards fulfilling optimistic expectations of them. Conversely, if you make it clear through your actions that you expect they will act like knuckleheads and perform poorly, your wishes will almost certainly come true.


In speaking of the attack on the COLE, CDR Lippold has stated on numerous occasions that the Sailors who performed the best, the ones who really pulled together and saved the ship, were in many cases his “problem children.” How can we then explain that these young men and women were suddenly transformed into dependable life-savers?

I argue that they were likely always reliable and hard-working and the dramatic event which they endured served to shift expectations and bring out their true colors.

During this tragic event, they were not falling to meet the expectations of a COC that had decided, for whatever reason, that they were “dirt bags,” but rising to the exponentially higher expectations of desperate and injured shipmates who fully expected that they would pull their weight to save the ship and their lives.

Am I saying that the poor performance in the past was the fault of the COC and that the individual Sailors didn’t deserve their reputation? Not at all, I am sure that there had been legitimate problems. In the Navy, we do, however, have a tendency to let the downward spiral of negative expectations progress much more rapidly than we should.

First, it is important to recognize that Sailors are automatically assumed to be incapable, poor decision makers from the start. There are numerous programs in place (many of which are geared much more towards CYA than helping the Sailor, but I will cover that in another article) which constantly reinforce the perception that our expectation is, that given the choice, most Sailors will make the wrong one.

A perfect example of this is the push to implement the use of the Army designed TRPS program for our Sailors planning holiday travel. What better way to demonstrate quite clearly to our personnel that we believe them to be morons than to force them to use a web-based computer program to tell them which route to take, where and when to rest and if their car is in good-enough repair to drive for the holidays. An activity, it is important to note, that tens of millions of other Americans accomplish with no outside intervention.

How do we overcome this? Treat all your Sailors like you fully expect that they are capable and industrious. Step back from the CYA attitude and leave room for them to commit errors. Unfortunately, allowing people the freedom to screw-up is the only way they learn and develop.

Raise your expectations. Whatever you think a Chief should be doing, assign to a first class and so on down the line. You will certainly get some people who fall on their faces, but there will be just as many pleasant surprises. And you have demonstrated faith in your Sailors, which will pay dividends far beyond any temporary set backs this might cause.

Getting what you inspect and not what you expect has long been a bit of conventional wisdom, but truth be told it is much more accurate to understand that we get what we inspect and what we expect.