15 Dec Why little, everyday promises matter most
“No one is beating down the door for it,” wasn’t what I expected to hear. I’d just asked about sending out important follow-up information promised at a recent event and found out it was delayed, but no one had reset expectations.
As you might imagine, I’m allergic to blithely blowing off promises. They are a central cog in communicating what you intend and are vital to how value gets added to the brand.
Once made, changing or breaking a promise should only happen with agreement from the promisee. Would you ditch a lunch meeting without letting your date know you needed to reschedule?
Yet, every day, people in organisations break their promises.
No one is asking me to keep it, is a low bar. And beyond personal or organisational integrity, there’s another reason why keeping everyday promises matters: it earns you the right to make weightier ones.
Josh Waitzkin, chess champion and subject of the film Searching for Bobby Fischer sums it up,“How you do anything is how you do everything. Most people think they can just turn it on in the big moments but if you don’t cultivate turning it on in the little moments, there’s hundreds of times more little moments than big moments, then there’s no chance in the big ones.”
What’s true for how you do things also holds for promises. If you want people to believe they can count on what you say, cultivate a discipline of keeping your small commitments.
Show up on time. Follow through with the information. Meet the deadline. There are hundreds of everyday promises we don’t always think about which may feel insignificant in the moment.
However, they add up, and soon you’re known as the person, team or organisation that doesn’t let people know when things change. Who drops the ball and never follows up.
The niggle of the broken promise ripples out to others overall confidence in you and colours cynical anything you say. Opportunities evaporate, momentum stalls and people back away from engaging with you.
Keeping small promises lays the building blocks of confidence. And confidence is the currency you need if you want people to agree to future commitments.
So, if next time, someone doesn’t jump on board with a new process, product or opportunity. Do a quick review and ask what little, everyday promises are you making? And how are you keeping them (or not)?
Thank you
I truly appreciate you reading my articles this year. I love thinking out loud with you, and hopefully, you find the ideas helpful across the landscape of your unheroic work.
My warm wishes for joy and peace for the holidays. I’ll be back in mid-January with my next article.
See you then (that’s a promise).
Thanks for reading.