In an interview in Fortune online magazine, Boeing chief James McNerney talked about the expectations he has of his people and how that makes them a lot better.
McNerney said: "I'm unafraid to expect a fair amount from people. It makes them so much better."
When asked about the reality that so many fields of interest in the world have people in them that grow for a short time then completely stop growing, while a small amount of people keep on growing and getting better, his response to that was that his priority begins with personal growth, including his own, rather than concentrating on the strategy or products that the company offers.
He's really right on here. When you take care of the growth of your people, everything else takes care of itself. Those who are managing or have true interest in the company, when helped to personally grow, automatically add value to all aspects of the company.
Another thing that expectations upon people does is to separate those who want to excel from those that don't. This isn't to make anybody look negative, but rather to help everybody find the place in the company that they fit in.
To me it's not a problem for people to grow to a place that they no longer go further. Maybe that's exactly where they belong and do the greatest good for the company. The only time it can be negative is when everyone knows that the person is so much better, but they stop growing to the level they can attain to.
If we don't expect a lot from our workers, we'll never know how far they can really go.
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