I had what may be referred to as a significant personal experience associated with setting high expectations. After graduating from college, I attended the Air Force Officer Training School (OTS). I was assigned to a small group with 15 other officer candidates, and our first task was to set our team goals. So on our first day, we discussed what our goal at OTS should be and came to a consensus that our goal would simply be a 100% graduation rate. At the time, it seemed reasonable; we were all there to become officers, so if everybody graduated, we would achieve our objective.
OTS emphasizes teamwork but rates the candidates individually- just like the real world. The entire 12 weeks of training is an immersion in competitive teamwork as nearly all assignments are given at the team level. However, officer candidates are eliminated based on their personal academic and physical performance.
Upon graduation, we commissioned ten officers. We lost a third of the class over twelve weeks. Our primary reason for failure was our low expectation of a 100% graduation rate. It was a very competitive environment. We could have set goals to be the best team overall, the best team for 30% of the time, or to graduate 50% of our team in the top 10% of the entire class. We could have chosen to set the bar high, but instead, we set it at the acceptable minimum level. We had no margin for error. When the going got tough individual survival came ahead of the team, even when better teamwork would have made individual survival easier.
The teams with a 100% graduate rate also had high team expectations. In trying to meet their team expectations, the candidates had to raise their performance, and the team recognizing the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses needed to support personal improvement. Setting high team expectations is the first step in a vicious improvement feedback loop. In addition, it’s a lot more fun to win.
-Neal