Honoring commitments is a lot less common than one would like to think.
Often people promise things, internally and externally, and they simply don’t get done.
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
-Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
Do you do what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it? This includes being on time for phone calls, meetings, appointments and promises. If a commitment can’t be fulfilled, do you notify others early and agree on a new timeline to be honored? Simply doing what you say your going to do, when you said you’d do it, is fundamental to successful business relationships.
This allows us to know we can count on each other to do what we say we will do. It is a requirement to building trust.
If you honor 90% of your commitments, is that good enough? I say no. If you do not honor every commitment (whether big or small) external and internal relationships don’t know if they can count on you. “Usually” is not good enough.
Overcommitting
A major reason we fail to honor commitments is that we make commitments we should not have made! We either fail to accurately assess what it will take to honor the commitment or we’re poor estimators of time or fail to consider all the other things that are on our plate.
Avoiding conflict
Often people want to say “yes” in order to please or to avoid conflict. Often it feels easier to say “yes” to people than it does to have a more honest conversation about what can or cannot be done.
Dedication
If our attitude about commitments is that we will “try”– or – “do our best”, then others will find we have no intention of keeping our commitments. However, if we’re going to be serious about honoring every commitment, then we have be careful to what we commit to be more trusted.
Imagine what your organization would be like if everyone honored every commitment.
How much time and effort do we waste following up on things that were supposed to have been done, but weren’t?
How much more effective would our organizations be if we knew, with absolute certainty, that what was promised would be done?
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