What Happened
Businesses are waking up to a problem hiding in plain sight: most managers never actually tell employees what success looks like. A growing conversation in workplace management circles points to the gap between what leaders assume employees understand and what employees actually know. The result is frustration on both sides, missed targets, and a workforce running on guesswork instead of direction.
The Communication Angle
Here is the real question: if your employee fails, did you actually tell them what winning looked like?
Most managers think they set expectations. They held the onboarding meeting. They sent the email. They mentioned the goal in a team huddle. But mentioning something is not the same as communicating it. There is a canyon between those two things, and most employees are falling into it every single day.
The core failure is specificity. Telling someone to "do good work" or "be a team player" is not an expectation. It is a wish. Real expectations have three components: a clear outcome, a measurable standard, and a deadline. Without all three, you have given your employee a compass with no needle. They are spinning.
There is a second failure that gets less attention: managers set expectations once and assume the job is done. Communication is not a single event. It is an ongoing contract between two people. Expectations need to be revisited when priorities shift, when the work environment changes, or when an employee hits an obstacle. The manager who set the goal in January and checks in December is not managing. They are hoping.
The fix is not complicated, but it requires discipline. Before you assign any task or role, write down one sentence that completes this phrase: "I will know this person succeeded when..." If you cannot finish that sentence, you are not ready to delegate. Once you have that sentence, say it out loud to your employee. Ask them to repeat it back in their own words. That reflection step exposes every gap in your communication before it becomes a performance problem.
This is exactly the kind of scenario I break down in Say It Right Every Time. The chapter on directional language gives you a framework for turning vague intentions into instructions that stick. The idea is simple: your words need to point somewhere. Fuzzy language produces fuzzy results, and most managers do not realize their words are fuzzy until a deadline passes and the blame game begins. That chapter gives you the exact language patterns that eliminate the ambiguity before it does damage.
Never Be Lost
for Words Again
Get word‑for‑word scripts for the conversations that shape your life, from job interviews and negotiations to difficult talks with family and partners, so you always know exactly what to say and how to say it.
Never Be Lost
for Words Again
Get word‑for‑word scripts for the conversations that shape your life, from job interviews and negotiations to difficult talks with family and partners, so you always know exactly what to say and how to say it.
Key Takeaway
Before your next assignment or project kickoff, write down the single sentence that defines success for that task. Something like: "This project is done right when the client responds with written approval by Friday." Then say it directly to your employee and ask them: "What does that mean to you?" Their answer will tell you everything about whether your message actually landed.
