Value Added vs. Value Expected

Why Your Boss Doesn’t Seem Impressed: Stop Confusing Hard Work with Value The Director of Infrastructure walks into the quarterly review, energized. He’s about to share six months of effort: a large-scale patching initiative that tackled hundreds of vulnerable, outdated servers. His team worked nights, juggled risks, and brought their infrastructure into compliance. He lays it all out in detail. The CIO nods. “Good work.” Next topic. The Director leaves the meeting deflated. He was expecting more. At least a few minutes of recognition. Maybe even a thank-you. Instead, he got a shrug. What went wrong? The Harsh Truth: You’re Talking About Value Expected Here’s the problem: the Director framed his update around effort and execution—what his team did . But the CIO interpreted it as something the team should have been doing all along . There’s a difference between value added and value expected . It’s one of the most important communication lessons professionals never get taught. ...