Businesses are Built on Promises

I know it’s a cliché, but it’s the truth. Businesses are built on promises. That’s because businesses exist in an ecosystem of relationships, and relationships are held together by promises. When promises are broken, trust goes down, relationships fall apart, and business fails. The opposite is true as well. When promises are consistently kept, trust goes up, relationships grow, and so does the business that fosters them. I’m pointing out the obvious here to state what might not be quite as easily perceived. This all leads to the conclusion that a business is only as strong as the relationships its made of, and therefore the keeping of promises is vital to its growth and stability.

Let’s take a look at some of the regular relationships in a business. I’d like to inspect their common promises to see how it can impact the trust, and ultimately the behavior, of the individuals these relationships are comprised of.

Employer-to-employee relationships

I know – everyone wants to pick on the bosses when it comes to trust. We’ll get to the others, just wait. I do, however, believe that it all starts at the top and ripples through the organization. Managers set the example for everyone else to follow.

What happens when a manager consistently keeps his/her promises? It fosters trust and respect for among their employees and strengthens their relationships to them. People will naturally want to perform better for someone they trust than for someone they do not; it is a very positive experience to have someone you hold in high esteem tell you “Good job!”

In my experience, the managers who get the best out of their employees are the ones who make and keep promises. The managers who make and break promises are largely ineffective, and understandably so. Employees will gravitate towards mistrust. When the manager speaks to them, they might look like they are paying attention, but they are thinking, “You never follow through on anything you say, so I’m not going to listen to you anymore.” Employees will become apathetic about performing well, and it will show their performance.

Is it possible to get respect and results without trust? Simply put, yes it is, but it does not make for healthy relationships, and therefore it is not sustainable. I liken this scenario to an armed robbery. A person with a gun automatically commands the respect of others and can easily persuade them to do their bidding. There is respect, but no trust. A manager can likewise command respect and get results through fear and manipulation. While this might get immediate results, it won’t be long before employees start updating their résumés and LinkedIn profiles. Much like a relationship between a victim and a robber is short-lived, so is the relationship between an employee and an untrustworthy manager who resorts to these negative behaviors.

Employee-to-employer relationships

Employees should respect their managers. ALWAYS. You don’t have to like your manager, and you might not trust them (especially if they regularly break promises), but you do have to respect them! They are the ones who sign your paycheck. Be grateful.

Disrespecting authority is a recipe for self destruction. If you can’t muster respect for your manager, quit. If you can’t find a manager you can respect, start your own business and be your own boss. There are few things more miserable than an employee who doesn’t respect his/her  boss. It’s not very pleasant for the manager either, I might add.

One way you can show respect to your manager is by keeping your promises. When a promise is broken, people often take it as a sign of disrespect. People who keep their promises are often regarded as hard workers, and they usually are. Keeping your promises often means following through on a lot of hard work. It also means being reliable and showing up on time, sleeping beauties! Yes, precious, tardiness is a broken promise. Most people understand extenuating circumstances, but when it becomes a pattern of behavior, your manager will lose trust in you. If you want to excel in your organization, keep your promises.

The bottom line is that employers need to be able to trust their employees to make critical decisions. They need to be able to know they can rely on their employees to take risks, and as we all know, there’s a lot of risk in business.

Peer-to-peer relationships

It goes without saying that we every individual depends on others. That holds true in the workplace. We need each other, and we need to know that we can depend on each other. That’s why it’s important for peers to keep their promises to each other.

Peer-to-peer promises includes meeting deadlines! If you don’t get your work done on time, it puts extra pressure on your teammates. This is especially true if they are waiting for you to complete your task(s) so they can begin theirs.

The better you do your job the easier it is for others to do succeed. For example, if you’re a project manager, and you do your job well, everyone on your team will know exactly what they need to do and when they need to do it. It’s a lot easier to succeed if you know what’s expected of you. This holds true in any industry. If you are a plumber, and you do your job well by completing your work on/ahead of schedule and you clean up the job site after you’re done, it makes it easier for the next crew to come in and complete their task(s).

Business-customer relationships

I think this is the one most people dwell on. It’s probably the first relationship you thought of when you read the title of this entry, “Businesses are Built on Promises.” You probably thought about how a business should deliver on its promises to the customer.

I agree that this the most important part of business. However, I recognize there’s a danger in focusing too much on it. It becomes increasingly difficult to keep your promises to your customers as the other relationships in the business food chain break down. A business will break fewer promises to customers, there is high trust in the other relationships mentioned above. For example, an engineer who trusts his manager will be more likely to raise his concerns about a potentially faulty part. The manager who trusts said engineer will listen to his concerns and take the appropriate action to avoid a recall and/or harming their customers.

Conclusion

Trust matters in every relationship at every level of a business. The higher the trust, the greater potential for success. Everyone in the workforce can have a direct impact by keeping his/her promises.

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