Resetting Expectations Is the Job
CEO, Amy Galloway, engaging with a principal cohort participant during a PIVOT learning day.
One of the most liberating ideas I’ve encountered about leadership comes from Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table. He writes about the constant, almost rhythmic work of resetting expectations, how great hospitality isn’t about perfection, but about continuously bringing people back to clarity, alignment, and purpose.
Every time I revisit that idea, I think: This is school leadership. Exactly this.
Because in schools, we often treat expectations like a one‑time announcement. We say something once in August and assume it will carry us through May. We assume adults “should just know.” We assume that revisiting expectations means something has gone wrong.
But the truth is simpler and far more human: People forget. People drift. People interpret. People get overwhelmed. People get new information. People change.
And so, the leader’s job is not to set expectations once. The leader’s job is to reset them—over and over—without frustration, without judgment, and without the story that something is broken.
Resetting expectations is the work.
Why We Resist Resetting Expectations
In schools, there are a few predictable reasons leaders avoid this work:
“They’re adults—they should know.”
“I already said this.”
“I don’t want to micromanage.”
“It feels like nagging.”
“I don’t have time.”
But underneath all of that is something more vulnerable: Resetting expectations forces us to confront the gap between what we hoped would happen and what is actually happening.
And that gap can feel personal.
So instead of resetting expectations, leaders often tolerate drift. They hope clarity will magically reappear. They wait for people to “figure it out.” They assume silence equals understanding.
But drift never corrects itself.
Clarity never returns on its own.
And teams rarely rise to expectations that aren’t actively maintained.
The Danny Meyer Lesson
Meyer’s insight is that the best leaders don’t resent the need to reset expectations; they anticipate it. They normalize it. They build systems around it.
They understand that:
People need reminders.
People need modeling.
People need calibration.
People need clarity at the moment of action, not just at the moment of announcement.
And they understand that resetting expectations is an act of service, not an act of control.
It’s how you set people up for success.
What This Looks Like in Schools
In school leadership, resetting expectations is not a sign of weakness or poor management. It’s a sign of strength, consistency, and care.
It sounds like:
“Let’s revisit what great hallway transitions look like.”
“Here’s the purpose of our PLC time today.”
“Let’s reset how we give feedback during coaching cycles.”
“I want to realign on what we mean by ‘bell‑to‑bell instruction.’”
“Let’s pause and get back to our norms.”
It looks like:
Modeling the behavior you want to see and narrating what you are doing
Naming the expectation clearly
Explaining the why
Checking for understanding
Following up consistently
And it feels like:
Predictability
Psychological safety
Shared ownership
Professional respect
When leaders reset expectations consistently, teams stop guessing. They stop filling in the blanks. They stop operating in ambiguity. They start moving together.
The Reframe Leaders Need
Here’s the shift that changes things:
Resetting expectations is not a sign that something is wrong.
Resetting expectations is how things go right.
It’s not a failure of adults.
It’s not a burden.
It’s not a frustration.
It’s leadership.
And when leaders embrace that truth, when they stop resenting the reset and start mastering it, everything gets easier:
Culture stabilizes
Instruction improves
Teams feel supported
Accountability feels fair
Systems actually work
Because clarity isn’t a one‑time event.
Clarity is a practice.
The Leader’s Job
At its core, leadership is the ongoing work of:
Setting expectations
Resetting expectations
Supporting people to meet them
Over and over.
With steadiness.
With generosity.
With the belief that people want to do well—and will, when they know how.
That’s the job.
And when leaders embrace it, everything else becomes possible.