The good news is that we can learn it.

The following are at the core of managing expectations:

• Anticipating what can go wrong or issues that can come up,
• Bringing them up or addressing them ahead of time,
• Communicating what can be done, achieved, or delivered in advance (this is key to preventing disappointment later)
• Communicating often and early
• Understanding the expectations of others and communicating how you plan to address them
• Giving another party a peek into how you think/work and getting an acknowledgment from another party that they are OK with it.

Remember, expectations of people keep changing.

So account for changed expectations in your communications and adapt to changing expectations.

Even when you manage expectations, problems may crop up because you can’t foresee everything. Address them as soon as you can.