Admit it, you make more promises than you can actually keep. You make promises to your spouse, your child, your team, your colleagues, your boss and others. That’s a lot of promises right there!
I know it’s incredibly tedious to keep track of the promises you make. Perhaps that’s why people have the tendency to over commit themselves. And when that happens, it’s hard to follow through on all promises made, especially if the fulfillment of one violates the other.
But that’s okay, I am not one to judge.
Maybe you delivered on a work-related promise, but forgot a family related commitment. It happens even to the best of us.
Staying true to your word is perhaps the number one quality of a great leader.
While keeping your commitments does not necessarily motivate employees, not keeping them is a sure way to de-motivate them. Unfortunately, keeping your promises is easier said than done.
Here are a few examples:
You promise your boss that you can meet the target delivery date, without first checking your team’s schedule and available resources.
You promised to train a new employee in a certain skill. A week later, your priorities change when you’re handed a new project.
An employee comes to you with a problem with another department. You promise to speak with the individual or their supervisor but don’t mark it down and it slips your mind.
During a performance review with an employee you tell them they are next in line for a promotion, but you didn’t check with HR before sharing this information.
If you are struggling to keep your commitments because they slip your mind, or you think you will remember (and then don’t) there is a simple solution, write everything down. Use one calendar for your work and personal commitments. When you promise to do something record it someplace you will review frequently. I use Outlook for my email/calendar etc. One of the features I use to help me remember is the Task section. Every morning when I open up Outlook a series of tasks pop up as reminders (personal and professional). It prevents me from having to hold everything in my head, and while not full proof, it does help ensure I don’t lose track of commitments.
Don’t forget casual promises you make, stuff that you say out loud that others could interpret as a genuine commitment. Examples are requests to have lunch, small errands for your spouse, time to discuss training opportunities, and routine requests from team members.
Understand what is requested. Okay, this is obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people say “okay” without even understanding what they got themselves into. If you don’t understand what was requested, ask. Often I find that people have difficulty keeping commitments because they don’t understand what they are committing to. Then they find that what they committed to isn’t possible, isn’t possible in the time frame or is going to take way more time than they have available.
Of course tracking your commitments is worthless without execution. Execution is the backbone of building trust and loyalty. Not following through with your commitments is a sure fire way to have others begin to feel they can’t count on you.
How can you prevent you from not following through with your commitments?
Check for overpromises. Are you saying yes before considering what else is on the calendar or knowing it’s doable?
Check resources before committing. Can it be handled in the time frame requested? What else have you or the team committed to that might interfere? Is there someone else that can handle besides you?
Confirm personal commitments. Is your daughter’s recital on your calendar? What about the dentist appointment? Did you remember that tomorrow is your day to pick up the kids after school or practice?
Set up a communication loop. Have frequent check-ins with others to determine status, reset priorities and confirm direction.
Communicate changes to others. Realistically things come up that will interfere with your commitment. When you realize it, communicate this to others, If you spoke too quickly (example discussed a promotion or salary increase before speaking with HR) own up to it and talk to the person. Ignoring it doesn’t help
Motivating employees is hard enough under the most ideal conditions, and the work environment is never ideal. Too many factors come into play that you have no control over. But it’s even more challenging when people don’t know who to believe, who to trust and who they can count on.
If you make a commitment try your damndest to follow through, when you said you would. Should something change the time frame or even the promise take the time to share this with the person. It doesn’t mean they will be happy with the information, it does mean however you are owning up to the situation and taking responsibility for it which goes a long way towards building trust.
It takes hard work, consistency in words and actions and commitment to build trust. When others trust you, loyalty is a natural outgrowth. It’s a whole lot easier to lose trust than gain trust. And once trust is broken it’s difficult, sometimes impossible to regain it.
If you focus on building trust, others will be motivated. They will want to do a good job for you. They will want to give you the juicy projects, the inside scoop, the promotion…they are happy to work for you and have you in the organization. Building trust and loyalty is not just a good idea, it’s a requirement if you want to build a high performing team.
Every leader wants a good team. It goes without saying that having a good team makes a leader’s job easier.
However, moving a good team to extraordinary takes more than good luck and having a few top-notch team members.
Want to know the secret to making this happen? Download our guide on Moving Your Team from Ordinary to Extraordinary and find out how.
