Consider this scene…in a meeting with the board last week, you tell a fellow board member, “yes”, in response to an information request.
Will you do it? Absolutely!
Why? Although you’re busy you will follow through because:
- You value and need that individual’s support
- Your word is your personal integrity…and you’d like it to be a strength
- Because the commitment was given in a group setting you fear an unfavorable impressions with the others if you don’t meet your commitment
- You also expect the member to remember the info request and re-ask at the next Board meeting
- Especially because the commitment was documented in the board minutes
- Also because you know that the board reviews prior minutes at each meeting
As a leader, ask yourself:
- Do those same considerations exist with your direct reports?
- Do those considerations exist with those that your direct reports manage?
The answers tell you whether your staff has a culture of commitment, if your entire company believes in commitment, and whether those norms extend beyond into your vendor and customer relationships.
Why is this important? A culture of commitment is what drives production and results…it’s one of the fuels that feed investor and customer satisfaction.
If we know the “why”, what is the “how”? How can leaders establish and nourish a culture of commitment?
A culture of commitment exists when:
- People are free and willing to make commitments
- Personal integrity is valued and rewarded
- Commitments (deliverable, owner, and timing) are recorded
- A record of the commitment is visible to the circles in which they are made
- And, meetings always include a revisit of prior commitments
This is not to imply that commitments won’t change… from time to time conditions change and some commitments can no longer be kept. In a commitment culture, people live to their commitments and when they discover they cannot be kept, they initiate communications to reset them. There is also responsibility on behalf of the recipient to value the honesty, and engage in a positive way to renegotiate the deliverable.
When you want a culture of commitment begin with your direct reports, then ask them to cascade the practices and principles down into the organization and out into your vendor and customer communities.