This posting is about the difference between talk and action, and promises and action. In our society, promises are cheap. Every politician makes them but fewer fulfill them. Business is based around delivering what is promised for payment, but many companies and individuals fail to do so. On a personal level, promises to be somewhere at a certain time, or to always be there are broken without a second thought.

We have become used to broken promises, but we shouldn’t be. A promise is made with the idea of gaining some value from the other person, money, agreement or even love. It is therefore only fair that a promise be enforced. The person promising must be held accountable.

I’ve met some very hard men – people such as special forces soldiers, ex-mafia enforcers, bouncers and bikers. In their world, your word is the most important thing. They would rather die than go back on their word. In contrast, those who are all talk and no action are regarded as lightweights, worthy only of contempt.

Now I work in the corporate world, but I’m not of the corporate world. I judge people by their promises. I hold them to a standard, because I expect performance from those paid well to lead. I expect that they will respect my time and intelligence and show a little bit of the leadership they are paid for.

When someone calls a meeting, but doesn’t show up to it themselves, I don’t think much of that. I wonder why I should bother showing up for future meetings that they call. When someone says they will do something and don’t even make a start on it, then I’d rather they just said they couldn’t do so I could find someone else who can.

Is there any wonder that an organisation can’t deliver on customer service promises when they can’t get a meeting happening on time? Its not the big things, its the small things that businesses are measured on.

I employ offshore software developers. If someone is in trouble with meeting a deadline, I will almost always work with them if they are upfront, but a broken promise is the kiss of death to the deal.

If you tell your kid that you’ll take them somewhere and don’t, how many times will it be before you lose all credibility in their eyes? If you say that you’ll take out the garbage and don’t, or clean the house and don’t, can you be relied upon to hang in there during the tough times?

You must not only fulfill the promises you make yourself, you also need to hold others to their promises. When you go to a restaurant, make sure the waiter brings the water. When your lawn is mowed, make the lawnmower man sweeps up the mess he left on the path.

By getting them to do that, you send a clear message that you expect a certain standard. You lift others to a higher standard by expecting a bit more. If you don’t hold others to their promises, you firstly won’t get what you paid for. Secondly, you make it a bit easier for the standards to keep slipping.

Tags: promises

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 16th, 2007 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.