Your team is simply a group of individuals brought together to achieve a goal. And each individual on that team may have different expectations of what has to happen to reach that goal. When you're working on a team, it's important to clarify expectations about the nature of each person's involvement in reaching the goal. This means making sure everyone understands team roles and responsibilities. Put simply, people should know what to do, and how to do it.

Clarifying expectations is important because it removes misunderstanding and clears up ambiguity about how your team works. Every member of a team has the responsibility to clarify expectations. The team leader needs to clearly spell out roles and responsibilities. And team members also need to take the initiative to find out exactly what expectations the team leader has of them.

You'll need to clarify expectations in two basic categories:

• General expectations include ideas about communication, compensation, relationships, and corporate culture.
• Task expectations involve ideas about what has to be achieved, who has to achieve it, and what steps need to be taken to reach completion.

Clarification is important for a number of reasons:

• it defines the individual roles, responsibilities, tasks, and functions each team member is expected to perform
• it helps you to understand specific procedures or standards that must be followed
• it ensures that team members who share tasks are clear on their parts, and
• it allows the team to identify the interdependence of tasks, and determine priorities

Nothing can guarantee perfection. But seeking clarification about your expectations, and clarifying team members expectations about your responsibilities, will ensure that your strategic path is clear and that you're doing all you can to achieve success.

Understanding expectations
 

A good team leader takes the time to explain what's required of team members, but nobody can anticipate everything they'll need to know. The best way to clarify expectations is to ask questions. If you're not 100% sure of what you need to do, and what you're accountable for, you'll need to find answers early on in your project or initiative.

Clarifying expectations involves three steps:

1. find out what you're responsible for – At the first opportunity, tell your team that you'd like to discuss responsibilities, or ask your team leader to explain what your responsibilities should be. By asking questions at this stage, you'll determine exactly what's expected of you. You won't miss anything important, and you won't end up doing someone else's work.
2. determine how your responsibilities support other team members – You'll need to ask questions and be available to answer questions from your team members. Working toward a team goal is a shared effort. Your fellow team members rely on you to do your work correctly and on time so that they can do their own. By asking questions at this stage, you'll be able to determine the interdependencies of tasks and responsibilities, and how those dependencies affect overall timelines.
3. verify that team responsibilities align with the goal – In the first two steps, you determined what your responsibilities were, and how they meshed with the responsibilities of other team members. Now, your team will commit to one course of action. By asking questions at this stage, you'll clarify how all the responsibilities together will form a strategic path leading toward the successful completion of the team's goal.

Clarifying expectations about the nature of each person's involvement in reaching the team goal is important. Every member of a team has the responsibility to clarify expectations, and the best way to do this is by asking questions. Clarifying expectations involves three steps. First, find out what you're responsible for. Next, determine how your responsibilities support other team members. Finally, verify that collective team responsibilities align with the goal of your project or initiative.