Make Promises You Can Keep

Being dependable is important—not only to the people you work for, but also to the people who work for you. One of the best ways to win respect is to be known as a person whose word is good.—always
Promises are easy to make, sometimes hard to keep. It’s bad business to make them lightly. The person to whom you’ve promised improved results will not forget it quickly if you fail to produce. Neither will the employee you’ve led to expect a pay raise you couldn’t deliver. If you are not in a position to give a raise then you shouldn’t promise one. Employees will not only trust you but may feel you promised something just to make them happy when in reality it won’t.
Why are we so quick to make promises? It’s probably because it’s the easiest thing to do when we are in a situation we’re not sure how to handle. The problem with that is, there comes a time when we have to pay up. If we are not in a position to make good on the promise, then we begin to have problems.
Actually, there’s nothing wrong with making promises, provided you observe a few precautions:
Are you sure you will be able to keep your promise? Eager young manager will promise things they cannot deliver. Let say you want to promote one of your employees to an assistant manager, you feel that if you do not do something to motivate him or her you might lose them. So you tell them that you are promoting them. You must make sure you are in a position to do that. If you are not and your boss doesn’t agree than you lose credibility with that employee and they will end up leaving you anyway.
Do you honestly intend to keep your promise? During the course of the day and with the pressures we feel as managers, it’s easy to promise something even when you know you can’t deliver. You might think the employee will forget about it. After all with all the things you have going on it’s natural for you to forget about it. However, that’s all the employee has on their mind, the promise you made to them. Since it is always on their mind you better make sure it’s always on your mind.
Are you particularly careful not to mislead people? A good manager will spend time talking to their employees about the future they have with the company. If you feel someone deserves a promotion, tell them. But tell them what you will do for them. If it’s writing a recommendation to your boss than that’s what you tell them you are going to do. You aren’t promising the promotion but promising you will do everything in your power to help them.
Do you make a practice of delivering all that’s promised? If you force someone to settle for less than you promised can lead to disaster. When you make a promise people expect what you say you will give them. Don’t ask them to settle for less. It creates resentment and you lose credibility.
Make promises you can keep. If there’s the slightest possibility you might not be able to, don’t promise. Deliver more than you promise, rather than promise more than you can deliver.