Management Principles: Commitment

Number 2:  Commitments.

If you accept a task, you are committed to it.  If you assign a task that someone else accepts, they are committed to it.  But, what does commitment mean?  Webster defines it as:

1.      responsibility: something that takes up time or energy, especially an obligation

2.      loyalty: devotion or dedication, e.g. to a cause, person, or relationship

Key words are loyalty, obligation, responsibility, devotion and dedication.  If you commit to a task then my expectation—anyone’s expectation—is that you will perform as directed.  Now, if you can’t meet your commitment then be sure to make it known.   The problem with commitment today is that every commercial you see on television says something like “stop with the Hassle fees, switch to Key Bank”, or “your beer has too many calories and not enough taste, switch to Miller Lite”.  Even in sports today we see LeBron undecided where he may end up, whereas Magic never thought that way.  So, we must understand that commitment today may in fact mean something totally different from past generations.  A commitment today may be only temporary compared to what they were before.  With this being known, what does commitment mean to you?  You must realize this:  the definition has not changed through the generations, only the application has.

               Here is what I expect from leaders.  When we task someone or we ourselves are tasked, a commitment is made. It becomes a binding agreement that full responsibility must be taken for, and in the end, if failure has occurred, then you only have yourself to blame.  No one else.  You accepted such a fate when you committed to the task.

               Now you ask yourself, how can I help this situation if things are going south?  First of all, you are responsible based on a commitment.  Imagine that you have been tasked with a major project, one of great importance.  Each of those higher up that you report to in this situation are bears.  If information is food, do you starve the bears or keep them fat?  Easy answer, keep feeding them information as it comes to you.  This keeps those you report to satiated.  If you wait, and give nothing, then the day you need to give an update, good or bad, the bears are going to bite your head off.  They have been hungry and you have failed to keep them informed.  The same goes for you subordinates that you task, in this case though you are the bear.  How would you feel if you were kept in the dark on an important project you delegated?  Hungry!

               My point here is, if you made a commitment, it is your responsibility to keep your boss informed.  No one else holds that responsibility but you.  You are the one who must face the bear with both the good and bad news, because you are the one who has committed to it.  Not only is that expected of you from those you report to, but it is also the standard to which you must hold those who have made a commitment to you.