10.3 Expectation Management

Expectation management is one of the most powerful weapons in psychological warfare. In expectation management, people take their instinctual need to disparage the ideas of others and use the technique consciously, regarding their own ideas as they present them to other people.

The concept is simple. People know that if they announce that an idea will deliver wonderful benefits, others will be dissatisfied should their expectations not be met, and could lose confidence in the promisers' ability to produce in the future. However, using the techniques from expectation management, the promiser will carefully articulate the potential good and bad outcomes, perhaps even overemphasizing the negatives. Then with the same idea and having achieved the same outcome, those promised will be pleasantly surprised because more was delivered than they were led to expect!

This technique is essential for group dynamics (e.g., meetings). One should always promise less than can actually be delivered. In meetings, one should tell people clearly what they are expect to do and explain the caveats (i.e., expectation management), and often they will overachieve.

Expectation management is used in a convoluted form in software product marketing. Since marketers are selling to the customer's needs, an inflated product image is created. This is called the expected product [Moore 1996]. People buy the expected product because it appears to meet their needs. What they actually buy is the generic product, which is what the vendor can deliver. In marketing terms, "crossing the chasm" is the transition from customers who will buy based upon sexy technology expectations to customers who will buy based upon real-world quality to satisfy needs. If the product is successful, there will be time to enhance it to actually meet expectations. The product can then become an augmented product through extensions and up-selling options. However, this standard model for software marketing almost always leads to disappointment.

Ideally, expectation management is a form of truthful disclosure. By telling people the truth about the potential outcomes, a psychological framework of expectations is established. In reality, a person can contribute to the causes of a situation but cannot control the absolute outcomes. If that person does a good job, he or she is contributing to the desired outcomes. Most times, he or she will be able to deliver upon expectations. Without managing expectations then, one will frequently underperform in people's perceptions, even with the same outcomes. Applying expectation management is a highly recommended technique; it can be quite useful and provide benefits every day.