So many times in business, we hear of a business owner who expected one thing to happen and was devastated when something totally different happened instead. Why do such things happen? More often than not, the problem occurs because a business owner assumes she knows what is going on in her business but fails to inspect to make sure.

In business, expecting things to happen is not enough to ensure that they will in fact happen. Once you’ve trained employees and defined your expectations for them, you must continue to inspect their work to make sure that they are doing what you want them to do, at the time that you want them to do it, in the manner you want it done. You must inspect their work and make corrections at the time you observe the errors, unless it is in front of a customer. (Whenever possible—and it isn’t always possible—wait until the customer leaves or the task is finished before correcting an employee, especially if the reprimand will embarrass the person. Remember the old adage: Reprimand in private, reward in public.)

Letting errors go either unnoticed or uncorrected spells trouble. People aren’t likely to change—especially if they don’t know that they are doing anything wrong—unless they are asked to change by a supervisor or leader. As you inspect and correct improper or faulty actions, be gentle but firm. Reinforce your expectations for your employee, and point out differences you see between the employee’s performance and what you expect the performance to be. Be aware of the need for periodic training to ensure that the job is always done how you want it to be done.