“Without upfront expectations, you can’t give feedback.” – Jasper Polak

Yesterday, we let one of our kids take the car. He described an errand he was to run. We felt like the car would be gone for an hour or so.

Six hours later, he returned. As we processed our discontent with our car being gone so long, I recognized we could have done better with some quick clarification on the front end.

How long will it take? When do you expect to return?

If he had told us he intended to make his return when he was ready, we probably would have set some limits and defined expectations a bit better.

Polak’s advice is accurate. Work on expectations. Define them. You can give feedback based on what you agreed to up front. Defining things better at work and home is worth the effort.