EXPECTATIONS: WE ALL WANT SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Too often we leave a meeting, interaction, quick or long conversation with an idea in our minds. Whether you are the manager or the employee, the parent or child, or even colleague or friend…

you may leave with a certain expectation of what happened, what was agreed to, or how the next steps should take place.

THE CONTRACT

When we go into and then leave these interactions, especially when there is an action or an agreement made, a perceived Contract is written. There is an agreement made in the mind, regardless of whether or not it was physically written. Each time you come back to receive or outline progress around this agreement that Contract is re-written, adjusted, erased, edited and reprinted in your mind.

THE PROBLEM 

The problem is that we all expect different things and those expectations do not always align. So take a moment to think before you judge the next time someone you have interacted with does not meet your expectations. It may not be about performance but more about the misunderstanding of that Contract around the Expectation!

Here are a few charts that will put our cost, spending and compensation for healthcare into perspective.

Enjoy!

National Healthcare Expenditure (NHE)

Using a conservative annual growth rate of 4% (from Deloitte’s baseline year of 2010), Deloitte suggests the following as our real NHE.

Out of Pocket Healthcare Cost

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released this chart to highlight the growth of our largest single component of cost - Average Annual Premiums. This shows our corresponding increase in out-of-pocket healthcare expenses.

Assembled by Carnegie Mellon University professor Paul Fischbeck – and reported by Mark Roth of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (December, 2009) – and highlights our Per Capita Healthcare Costs by Age as compared to four other countries (Germany, the U.K., Sweden and Spain).

Physician Compensation

Here is Medscape’s Physician Compensation Report: 2012 Results.

Can you imagine what your world would be like if you had a Dwight in your office.

Dwight Schrute worships and views his boss as model of success. His ultimate goal it to be 2nd only to him and while Dwight craves authority he also takes the authority even when it is not delegated or given. Sound like anyone in you office?
His almost psychotic following of office rules do not stay within the boundaries of the office. They include those of the Shrute farm, his volunteer deputy status and anything else that he can create from his sci-fi imagination. This is why he would be the ultimate employee relations nightmare. So if you had an employee with the following actions and/or thoughts listed below, how would you handle them?

Adapted from the evil thoughts of Dwight Schrute

ALLIES - If history has taught me anything, it’s that you never count Chuck Norris out, and, most importantly, in any quest for power, one needs allies. Machiavelli knew it; he discussed it in detail in The Prince. During World War II, the Germans knew it; they created the Alliierte (Axis Powers) with Japan and Italy. And the Elves, Hobbits, and Humans knew it when they combined forces to win Middle Earth from Dark Lord Sauron. Now, I, Dwight Schrute know it.

ADAPTING TO UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES - I learned my company could go bankrupt, causing every employee to lose their jobs. This revelation rocked me to the core - the thought of Jim Halpert getting laid off before I have a chance to get him fired was simply devastating.

CO-CONSPIRATORS - I don’t do well with partners. I almost never figure skate in pairs. At camp, my swim buddy drowned (not my fault he couldn’t keep up with me). However, a co-worker learned of my diabolical plans and forced me to conspire with him against my foe. Now, this solitary predator will have to learn to hunt with another. Ah-woooooo (that’s the sound of me howling like a wolf, the prototypical pack hunter - it’s a metaphorical howl)!

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES - When beginning a highly orchestrated, deliciously malevolent, genius revenge plot, it’s imperative to understand your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. Failure to do so will almost certainly result in your demise. Don’t believe me? Just ask every single James Bond villain…even the ones with sure-fire plots like hiding a nuclear weapon in a jewelry canister in order to explode it at the circus. Idiots - if they were really serious about world domination, they should’ve taken the time to properly assess James Bond’s abilities (enhanced sexual charisma, weapons & martial arts expertise, English accent) and his Achilles heel (inability to survive multiple bullet wounds to brain).

So if you were faced with this type of employee, what actions or precautions would you take, how would you handle them? What type of intervention and/or employee training would you implement for him and for the others who have to deal with this menace?

I’m a business cycle person. I think that in order to be a great partner of people within a business you also have to be a good partner of and with the business. So for all the blogs, articles, and talk of those in my field always stating that we need to understand the “business” - here you go, a lesson from William Ackman on Everything You Need to Know About Finance and Investing. Enjoy your lemonade ;o)