The Power of Expectations

" Life is largely a matter of expectation " - Horace

We all, especially the Gen Y Indians, would definitely relate to this, may be with varied levels of intensity. For most part of our lives, we either have been fulfilling the expectation of others or have been expecting for something. We all love to expect and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified we want to be expecting again. These expectations, either from others or our own, shapes us as individuals. However it is interesting to observe that individual expectations, though may seem to be a very personal phenomenon, is strongly derived  from two factors - time (the generation you belong to) and macro economic conditions.

We primarily have three generations active in the workforce  : GenX - born between 1965-80, GenY - Likes of me (born between 1980-1995) , GenZ - The new generation (1995 onwards). Now if we look at the the Indian economy post independence, it can be divided into two distinct era; pre-liberalization period  (1947-1991) and post-liberalization period ( 1991 onwards). Our parents, the babyboomers or the early Gen X,  belonged to the pre-liberalization era where the economy was inward looking leading to scarcity of jobs and limited opportunities. So when they were growing up all they expected for is financial security, may be job for lifetime that pays them just enough to meet all their family and social commitments. Most of them never had the luxury of some disposable income which they could spend on  things like an unplanned dinner in a good restaurant  or a vacation at a nice destination. So they started expecting that at least their kids should break out of these financial constraints and the only way they saw to achieve this was to push their kids (that's us) to excel at studies and end up in a good job. They did everything in their capacity to provide us good education sacrificing many of their needs. But with that also came the burden of expectation on us. We were conditioned to think that excelling at studies is our only way to a better future. We were expected to get good grades, find a seat in a good technical college, get a high paying job and be financially secure. Our parents at times tried to instill insecurities in us to drive us towards that goal.Their expectation or their ways were not totally wrong as that was the reality in early 90's. However in 1991 India adopted a free-market principle and liberalized it's economy to international trade. While we were in schools, Indian economy was going through a massive transformation paving the way for many new avenues. But it was too early for us and our parents to understand those signs; all our formative years we were busy fulfilling the expectations of an old world which was to change completely. When we, the GenY, entered into our professional career in early 2000, opportunities were plenty. We started expecting from ourselves what our parents had expected from us, may be a bit more... High salaries, nice cars, a dream house, vacations in exotic destinations, fine dining, big savings..The more we achieved the more we started expecting because we were always expected to achieve more. And as the law of nature goes, all expectations do not get fulfilled. The more we started expecting, the more windows we opened for us to be disappointed. You may think here I am hinting towards being less ambitious. But don't confuse ambition with expectation. Ambition is a positive term, it gives you the drive to move ahead where as expectation drags you down. GenY is this confused lot now trying to find a balance between ambition, expectation, achievement, gratification and disappointment, at times undermining their achievement/gratification, at times unnecessarily magnifying their expectation/disappointment. But when I look at the late GenY/Gen Z it's a different story all together. They are much more independent, open to experimentation and have stronger preferences in terms of their career choices, . As they have been brought up in the  post-liberalization economy, they have not been exposed to an environment of scarce opportunities or struggle for fulfilling basic financial needs. So they are confident, have better sense of purpose and are much more at ease with themselves. They are not dragged down by expectations as much as the older Gen Y is.

Now let's see what's the implication of this in a corporate set up. What managers believe or expect of themselves greatly influences what they expect  from their subordinates or superiors and how they view the incentives. If you belong to Gen Y higher probability is that your superior is from Gen X and your subordinates are from late Gen Y/Gen Z. To ensure performance, you need to understand and manage the expectation of everyone including yours. As Gen Y you have worked really hard through the last decade and probably have moved beyond the worries of basic financial security. Drawing a comparison to Maslow's need hierarchy theory, in the corporate need pyramid you have moved beyond the 3 basic needs - physiological needs (decent working facility, defined work responsibilities), Safety needs (job security, salary, bonus), Social needs (team acceptance, collective decision making). The biggest motivator for you now is fulfillment of your esteem needs i.e. recognition, admiration, awards, increased responsibilities, respect etc. However your superior being from Gen X still could be valuing tangible rewards like salary hike, bonus or dinner in an expensive restaurant as big motivators, because for him the financial objectives were of greater importance while he was at your level during the early liberalization era. Instead of expecting your superior to understand your new found need and getting disappointed every day, it's better to have a candid conversation and align expectations. Similar is the case when you are dealing with your subordinates from late GenY/Gen Z. Just because you have gone through a phase of struggle  and have worked for long hours to meet your own expectations of financial or job security, it is not right to expect the same from them. They probably have moved one level up in the corporate need hierarchy to self-actualization needs where they are looking for greater autonomy, meaning in their actions. They probably are not in a hurry to reach a destination and believe that the journey - in whatever form it comes - can be more rewarding than the final destination. As a manager it's very critical for you to have an appreciation for this and value every individual for what he is. If somebody is not willing to put long hours at work, that doesn't mean that he is less committed or less effective. Instead of starting to expect less from that person, you should create high performance expectation from him, as more often than not, people appear to do what they believe they are expected to do.