Constantly am amazed at the number of people in leadership positions who completely miss the most important aspect of leadership: commitment. Individuals such as supervisors, project managers, and even business owners fail to completely commit themselves to the promises they make. None are perfect, but with commitment, one can appear to be.

If a supervisor states a project will be completed by a certain time, it is expected that he/she will do whatever it takes to complete the project on time. A supervisor employed by our company (who no longer works for us) constantly missed deadlines he set. He could verbally commit to a date, but lacked the commitment to follow through. Often it would have only taken a couple of additional hours one evening or weekend to
make deadline. There is an old saying ‘time is our enemy’, but time is our friend if we utilize it properly. Don’t complain that you do not have enough time, if you don’t plan on utilizing the time you have. Fail to complete the project on time or work a couple of extra hours? Which one says success?

Another example, the project manager of a subcontractor to our company, on a time sensitive project, had been asked when a particular piece of equipment would be installed. He informed us that the equipment would be installed by tomorrow. The next day, when we checked on the project, the equipment had not been installed. The project manager was asked when it might be installed. Again, the project manager informed us that it would be installed tomorrow. The next day it was not installed. The project manager should have said that it would be installed next week and make sure it happened at all cost. Commit to tomorrow and fail or commit to next week and succeed? Which one will make the customer happy? Even owners of businesses misunderstand leadership. If an owner of a business informs me that he will call with an update by a certain time, it is expected that he/she will make that call. If they do not have the information required to update, then they should make the call to inform me of a new time. The following is an example of something that happened to me recently.

The company was having work done on one of our vehicles by a local business. The work ended up being about a three-month project, which should have taken (as stated by the business) three weeks. Two months into the project, I contacted the owner of the company to request an update on the project at 2:00 PM. He informed me that he would call me back by 5:30 PM with a full update. He did not call at all that day, nor spoke with him again until I called again the next day. The question is always, “why would he give me a specific time if he doesn’t intend to commit to that time?” If he doesn’t have an update, he should call and let one know he is working on getting an update. Don’t return a call by a committed time or call asking for additional time? Which one will make the customer happy? I believe on doing what I say and saying only what I plan on doing. This requires commitment. May not be an expert, but am committed. A sales training many years ago, taught giving customers a specific time to complete a task. Such as, “I will call you with an answer by 3:30,” or “we will have a quote ready by Friday at noon.” That is the simplest part; the commitment to complete as promised is the hard part. The answer- do not promise anything you are not committed to completing. This seems to be a lost art these days. Leadership or Commitment? Without commitment, there is no leadership.