“You should know that they need gym shoes in third grade.”
This was an actual line my son’s teacher said to me (albeit in German).
Please understand that from Kindergarten (two years’ worth) through second grade, gym shoes were forbidden, and they needed “Stoppersocken” (those socks with rubber on the bottom).
I asked her how I could have known that there was a change in grade three when there had been no list sent home. She replied, “Because academics start in grade three, and so we are serious about gym.”
I still didn’t see the logic, but she acted like it was the most obvious thing in the world to her.
And it was obvious to her. But I’d never had a third grader in the Swiss school system before. There was no way for me to know without someone telling me. And most of the other parents knew as well–because they were Swiss and knew that grade three was a big academic change and that it related to gym shoes. So the teacher looked around and thought, “20 kids in the class and 18 knew to bring gym shoes. These two mothers are idiots.” No, we were just foreigners who weren’t raised in that system.
So often we do this to our employees. We make up rules in our heads, and then we just expect people to know them and punish them for not knowing.
We say, “Oh, we don’t need a dress code, we just tell people to ‘dress for your day.'” Or “Don’t sexually harass people,” but we don’t lay out what the boundaries are.
Just because it’s in your head and very clear to you and the executive team doesn’t mean it will be clear to everyone.
Say what you mean. And follow that up with meaning what you say. It’s a kindness for everyone to have clear understanding of expectations.
This article emphasizes that you cannot imply by inference assumption that certain information is known as common knowledge–like the example given of what is business attire–which we know is very subject to a great deal of interpretation in today’s world of allowance of differences–but there always can be a guideline standard to have as a basis and that always should be in writing, so the company covers the fine line interpretation differences. Verbal discourse will not cover it, especially if the individuals claim the eventual “I don’t remember excuse”–having in in written form clarifies and eliminates the “confusion”