It is not uncommon to hear stories about teams breaking apart because one member became frustrated with the other. The reasons can vary, from the other person’s inability to collaborate with the rest of the team to high expectations they could not meet.

High expectations are the most common reason why teams are unable to work together, with some having unrealistic expectations that your teammates can’t achieve at all. But why do we set very high expectations from our colleagues?

The following reasons may explain why you are feeling this way:

1. You Are Disappointed With Yourself

One reason we tend to expect more from our colleagues is that we are disappointed with our performance. We may lose the capacity to feel satisfied with our accomplishments as we strive to always fight for only the best. We won’t accept anything less when it comes to our team’s delivered output, and we should go beyond and more. If they fail to deliver the results you want, you would feel like you failed as the team leader.

2. You No Longer Have Confidence In Others

If you are working with or for a perfectionist, it is not a surprise if you feel frustrated throughout the experience. You may even feel like you are a failure and eventually do nothing since you seem to do nothing right in the eyes of your team. You will also start to doubt your abilities and fear the critiques you may get from your peers.

3. You Believe That Everyone In The Team Is Hyper-Accountable For The Success Of Their Project

The expectations are also high because you believe that everyone should feel hyper-accountable and dedicate themselves to the project. However, there is a chance that your colleagues don’t feel this way and would focus on other projects even if they know how important the task is.

As a result, you are frustrated with their failure to understand your position and believe it will cost you a lot of time to get the project going.

4. There Is No Organisational Resilience

Another reason you may feel frustrated with your team is because they cannot bounce back after all the criticisms and setbacks the team may face. When people are constantly barraged with negative comments and criticisms, they will become paralysed with fear because they don’t want to earn your ire. As a result, the more you push them to reach your targets, the more they cannot perform due to stress and fear.

Conclusion

If you feel frustrated with your colleagues because of your expectations, it is crucial that you learn how to open up to your colleagues about it and find a solution to the problem. You should also reexamine your standards and make your expectations more realistic because it may be why you are setting high expectations of others. Whether you are a team member or a leader, you should use this opportunity to help everyone grow together and help each other overcome their weaknesses.

It takes two hands to clap and an awesome team to make a business successful. Here is how you can achieve good relations with your coworkers:
Great Tips to Engage Gen Z Colleagues at Your Company
How to Win Your New Colleagues Over in Your New Job?
How to Solve a Disagreement Among Team Members on a Projects

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25 replies on “Are Your Expectations of Your Colleagues Too High?”

  6. Kally, good post and advice. As an old fart, collaboration like all relationships requires effort, which is one reason people find it hard. But, great teamwork can play to each person’s strengths and shore up weaknesses. Egos need to be checked to make it work well. When I used to compile teams to serve our clients, a good project manager would help someone who tended to be more creative than organized and a good financial person would help someone who was not as good with numbers, eg. Keith

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    1. Good points and great sharing. But you are far from old fart. 😊Appreciate your comment, Keith and I hope you are having a beautiful weekend.

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  9. When it comes to your colleagues expect absolutely nothing and be prepared for anything unless they are also your friends. At work you there to work and people will do anyway to shine even if it means pulling you down.

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