March 19, 2010

Keep your follow-up promises

Promise made, promise kept.  That's a rule for high quality leaders and doers alike. 

Today, I received an email from a big time internet producer that started out with the line, "I promised, I'd get back to you by end of the today, so here's my .02:" The email arrived just before 4pm my time.  She'd beaten her follow-up promise by an hour.  I was impressed. 

When I thought about it, this is actually pretty rare in my life.  Sure, we promise to deliver a report by end of the day tomorrow, and we do that - because it's a "deliverable".  On the other hand, we dish out "I'll get back to you tomorrow on that" like we mindlessly ask people, "how are you doing?"

In our mind, it's a very small promise, not worth writing down or putting in your day scheduler.  But really, it's the little promises, so easy to keep, that build our reputation with others that we are dependable, action oriented and on-top-of-it.  In my research for the Likeability Factor, I learned that leaders that are great at keeping small promises are the most respected, and considered the most honest.  

In this go-go world we live in, we talk to dozens of people a day, and few conversations enjoy a closed loop.  There's follow up of some type.  When we are making little promises to non-strategic contacts (peers, prospects, potential suppliers, new contacts), they have less weight than the ones we make to our boss or best customer.  But remember, that boss or great client was once a prospect or a peer.  They decided to take a chance on us because they believed in us.  In those situations, we probably had a high promise keeping ratio, especially on follow up.  

In his new book MOJO, executive coach Marshall Goldsmith shares how your reputation is built: Others observe your patterns of behavior.  So if you want a great reputation, write down EVERY promise you make to follow up and put that ahead of your To-Do list and insert it into your schedule.  

You might realize that the list ends up with a dozen promises a day, more than you can manage (and be accountable for).  That's a sure sign that you promise too much, just to end meetings or conversations.  That's a post for a different time, I promised someone that I'd get back to him before 4pm his time today, and I'm almost late!

This is a concept that's included in my next book, Today We Are Rich.   Visit the book page and you can pre-order a copy and receive a free eBook excerpt with an entire principle!  You can also visit its facebook page too.

 

 

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