Page 113 - my SUCCESS! my CHOICE

Deepak Gupta my SUCCESS! my CHOICE
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“Ron does this mean that we must define and align to a set of principles in every

relationship?” Dan enquired.

“Ideally yes Dan, though almost all relationships already have some inherent principles. For

example fidelity is a critical principle in a marriage and meeting commitments in a work

relationship.”

“It helps immensely to align the principles of a relationship with our counterpart to insure

it against misunderstanding and misinterpretation.” Ron paused.

“Do you remember Expectations Swap, the exercise we conducted when I came back as

the Director. We were actually aligning the principles of our relationship.”

Dan went back to the time when Ron had returned to their department as their boss. And

the first thing he did was to ask all his direct reports, that included Dan, to conduct an exercise

that he called Expectations Swap. Each one of them was asked to write 3-4 points under two

headings:

• What I expect from Ron

• What I think Ron expects from me

Ron did the same for each one of them and reviewed both the documents one-on-one with

each team member. The purpose was to clarify, understand and align mutual expectations.

“I recall it vividly Ron. We thought it to be the fad of the new boss. But it really helped as

we became crystal clear on what you expected from us and we were confident that you too