A note on expectations.
Many people find themselves in a situation where they are constantly frustrated or annoyed with another person or object. I'm willing to bet that the annoyance is due more to your expectations rather than the person/object’s ability.
When I have a certain expectation of someone, and they fail to meet that expectation, it is upon me to communicate that expectation to that person. If the person responds by disappointing me again, I can presume that my expectation of them was either not clearly communicated in a way the offender could understand, they do not have the ability to meet that expectation, or simply just don’t have the will to reciprocate.
When a person continuously disappoints me when I feel that a clear communication was given and received in the manner to which it was understood, while they have demonstrated in the past that they have the ability to meet the expectation, the only way to handle that situation is to lower the expectations of that person.
At first, the lowered expectations might be difficult, as the tasks or objectives that I want to meet will now have to be met by another person or myself, however, my expectations and understanding of the person I have adjusted my expectations for has grown and I have a better understanding of that person. Once lowered expectations become a pattern at some point, the expectations of that person will be lower than the value of what you are providing them. At that point, in business, you’d replace that person with someone that can fulfill the expectations with more efficiency than the ousted employee.
The emotional bond between people confuses the reasoning on when a manager lets a person go. Business at its core is heartless and cold.
The other side of this logic is personal and in your person life. Why do you have friends? A significant other? Animals? Or even hobbies? The answer is easy, each piece of your individual makeup is that each of these “assets” serves a purpose and a need that each person needs with varying levels of course. No person is the same and neither are their needs. Over time, some needs change, and some needs are fulfilled by other people. So even though your needs are still present, it varies on whom actually fulfills those needs for you. If a need that was fulfilled by human is substituted by machine or device, then the need might disappear from your personal makeup. However, the person that was providing that need unless communicated to otherwise have their own expectation to fulfill that need to you. Emotionally at this point, it could get tricky. Keeping the person on as an asset depends on their usefulness to you, and if their usefulness is not needed, it can get difficult to justify why you should continue a relationship with that person.
As needs change, people inherently grow or retract. As technology and automated fulfillment is innovated, the need for people changes. Alternatively my personal needs may be fulfilled more satisfactorily with a person rather than the automated version, or a combination of both may be suitable. Each person is different.
Managing relationships based on needs and expectations is actually done naturally throughout the course of your life. Friendships come and go. Personal relationships come and go, as well as devices and needs fulfillments throughout life. If emotionally, people made needs based decisions in their life, would it make for a better life? Once my expectations of other is low enough to where they are easily replaced, is it a smarter option to replace that person to fill that need? Technically, could we make conscious decisions and eventually remove those frustrations and annoyances?
The interesting part about this article is that there is an emotional piece of each decider to the person that is decidedly lop-sided in value-added and consumption.
