I tell my managers clearly what I expect but the results are never in linear. Welcome to this talk series Kakarum specially recorded for business owners. Today let’s talk about the gap between what the owner expects and what the managers actually deliver. The problem isn’t always the manager. More often it’s the absence of clarity. It’s the absence of structure and it’s the absence of accountability. Closing this gap requires a process, not just hope. Let me give you four specific steps.
Step one, use the smart expectations format for every key task. Stop saying vague things like improve customer service or increase sales. Instead, be specific. Tell your sales manager, acquire 15 new B2B clients in the electronic segment by March 31st with average order value, let’s say above two lakhs each. Tell your operations head, reduce production rejections from the current level of 8% to below 4% in the next 90 days. Implement quality checks at three stages. Write these down. Share them. When expectations are measurable,
when expectations are time bound, there is no confusion about what success looks like. Step two, conduct weekly or a reasonably periodic alignment check-ins. Do this with each manager. Not long meetings, just a 15 minutes focused meeting, let’s say every Monday or every Tuesday. And ask three questions. What did you achieve last week? What’s your top priority this week? What’s blocking you? This keeps everyone aligned in real time and prevents month-long misalignments before they become major
problems. Step three, create a priority matrix. And this matrix should be visible to all managers. On a simple board or a shared document, list all major initiatives in four categories. Urgent and important. Do them now. Important but not urgent. Schedule them, focus on them, make them happen. Urgent but not important. Delegate them. Neither urgent nor important, drop them. Update this monthly. When your entire leadership team sees the same matrix, they stop working on what they think is important and start working on what
actually moves the business forward. Believe me, this eliminates 70% of why is he doing that confusion. Step four, implement outcome based reviews. Whether it’s a monthly review or a 15-day review, do it based on the outcome. Sit with each manager and review their scorecard. Important three to four metrics tied to their role. For your finance manager, cash flow improvement, overdue payments collected, cost reduction achieved. For your HR manager, time to hire, retention rate, training completion. Use actual numbers, not opinions.
