Anatomy of a Commitment

What is a commitment?  How serious do you take a commitment?  How do you feel when a commitment is broken or not honored?

Commitments are the bedrock of trust.  As I work with organizations, it is often a lack of commitment at the root cause of issues.  Employees expect their leaders to honor their promises, to respect assurances – to deliver on their commitments

The real test of leadership comes down to how well you keep your word.  Broken promises destroy organizations.  As a leader, your commitments are the working capital that determines if you succeed or fail.  Commitments are a serious matter!  Don’t take them lightly.

 A commitment is a contract.  It represents an assurance to follow through and deliver.  Long before written contracts were used to conduct business, it was a verbal commitment often sealed with a handshake that constituted a warrant to deliver.  When you preface something with “I promise …” you are making a commitment.  If you don’t intend on delivering or believe there may be impediments to following through, don’t state it as a promise.  Broken promises are the high-speed route to failed leadership.

Another aspect of commitment is clarity.  I have found organizations that obfuscate or bury commitments under a cloud of caveats and provisions that create escape paths.  In contracts you can often find so many terms and conditions they nullify commitments to the point of absurdity.  Clarity demands that promises leave little or no wiggle room for interpretation.  It should be obvious what you have committed to and when delivered, closure is assured.

The final component of commitment is accountability.  Broken promises have consequences and you must be prepared to accept responsibility when you don’t deliver.  That doesn’t mean playing the blame game or clouding the situation with excuses.  When you make a commitment, you are taking responsibility for the outcome regardless of what it is.  Step up and lead!

Want to test how solid you are at keeping commitments?

How well do you keep commitments made to yourself?  The real test of how sincere you are about commitments lies within.  Most of us have made personal resolutions at one point or another.  They may have been New Year’s resolutions or just a simple decision to change something.  What’s your personal track record?  If you have broken commitments to yourself, you’re more likely to break them with others.  Sound harsh?  Take a few moments and reflect on this point.  Consider that you can’t give what you don’t already possess.  Your determination to honor promises you’ve made to yourself is the foundation on which you draw strength to do so for others.

The true test of leadership is commitment.  There are many other attributes that contribute to great leadership, but it all rests on one simple thing – are you good for your word?  Trust is built or destroyed on this one element.  You can possess many of the other attributes often associated with leaders, but if you fail the commitment test, you fail as a leader.  Next time you’re called to make a commitment, consider the implications should you break your promise.  When you chose to walk away from a commitment, the effects can be deep and long-lasting.  Take the commitment test. 

• Can and will you deliver?
• Is it clear what you have committed to?
• Are you ready to take complete responsibility for the outcome?

Finally, reflect on the commitments you’ve made to yourself over the last several years.  If you have failed to keep your own promises, has that in any way affected commitments made to others?  Be honest with yourself.  Start by honoring the promises you make to yourself and build commitment muscle.  You’ll find delivering to others becomes easier when you respect yourself enough to do so when no one else is looking.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.