First 30 Days Blog

Keep a Promise, Demonstrate Your Commitment to Excellence

How many emails are still in your inbox? How many to dos are written on papers, saved in your e-mails inbox and “rolling around” in your mind?

Each one of those promises gives you a “heavyweight” opportunity to stand out beyond your competition. Keep a promise, and you demonstrate your commitment; to yourself, your clients, your family, your community.

We believe that promise management is both an art and an acquired skill. Here are two questions to ask and answer, as honestly as possible (as honest as you’re willing to be with yourself!):

1) Do you always do what you say you’re going to do, in the time you promised?

2) Do the people in your personal and work life, person by person, do what they say they’re going to do, in the time they promised?

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Every now and then, the kids get sick, there is extra traffic on the freeway, a computer system goes down. We all know, if people we associate with day in and day out do NOT do what they say they’re going to do, in the time they promise, there is be a price to pay: slow and noticeable disintegration of trust.

Who can be sure of all the factors that go into whether or not someone will ultimately “know” you to be trustworthy?

What we do know is that, over time, people who see you as “one who makes and keeps your word” will tend to believe in you, turn to you, work with you and for you.

Consider the next month as a time to review (and renegotiate) the promises you have made and how you can best manage them. In our one-on-one leadership coaching programs, we encourage our clients to keep some kind of journal where they can note their daily experiences over 15-20 work days in one month.

The goal is to look for patterns of behavior that both lead to and detract from meaningful progression on important goals.

Workplace stress and inefficiencies often come from miscommunication (or non!) communication between co-workers. In several instances we have seen entire departments go from medium- to high-performing in a matter of weeks by fostering an environment of “clarification of commitments.”

If you’re like many people reading this, you will come up with one or two things to do this week to demonstrate your commitment to excellence. Remember that many of the people around you are looking to you to keep your word. They trust you will do what you say you are going to do.

A father and son speaking-and-writing team, Craig P. Womack (www.CPWomack.com) and Jason W. Womack, MEd, MA (www.WomackCompany.com), wrote The Promise Doctrine: A Guidebook and System for Consistently Delivering on Your Promises. It is available on Amazon.com. Please visit their website, http://www.ThePromiseDoctrine.com.

Posted by Jason Womack on January 3rd, 2010 in Career, Personal Stories | 0 comments Read related posts in Promises

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