Making promises to your staff that you can’t keep
When you promise something to an employee, they take it as a done deal.? For example, if you promise a promotion to a staff member at the completion of a project, they will be expecting a promotion at project end. If you can’t deliver, then at best, you have lost credibility, at worst; the employee will be on his way to Human Resources or a lawyer to complain.
?As another example, if you tell a staff member that if he works through the weekend then he can go to an up-coming user conference, then don’t let him go. Not only will you lose personal credibility, but you will never get the person to work another weekend.
?By making promises you can’t keep, I don’t mean to imply that you are purposely lying to your staff. I mean that you should carefully consider your ability to keep your side of the bargain. That said, if you continually fail to follow through on your promises, even if it truly is with the best intentions, you will eventually be viewed as either a liar or ineffective.
?Early in my career, I made this mistake. As a young and new manager, I told a member of my staff, Mike, that if he worked on a Saturday to finish a specific project, I would give him a day off during the next week to make up for working Saturday. He worked on Saturday and did a great job. That Monday, I had a meeting with my boss and told him the project was done because Mike had come in over the weekend. I then said I told Mike he could have a day off during the week to make up for his weekend efforts. My boss then said giving time off during business hours for time spent during non-business hours was against company policy.
?I felt terrible for telling Mike he could have a day off and my boss was upset with me for not checking the company rules before offering this arrangement. My boss then told me to go talk to Mike. Mike, who had been at the company much longer than I, said he knew the policy and thought it was odd that I made the offer and figured the day off would never happen anyway.
?The moral of this story is that even though I tried to do the right thing, my lack of knowledge of company policy and inexperience as a manager caused me to make a promise I couldn’t keep. I was fortunate that my boss just considered it to be a learning moment for a new manager and Mike was forgiving of my error, but it could have been much worse. Also, as a young manager, I learned an important management lesson. Before making a promise to a staff member, be positive you can follow up on your promise.
领英推荐
?Know that this issue doesn’t just happen to new managers. I was also on the other side of this issue as the employee and my boss was a VP level executive. There was an organizational change coming and my boss promised me that I would be receiving additional responsibility. When the organizational change materialized, the size of my boss’s team was cut in half. As a result, I ended up with less, rather than more responsibility.
?My boss had no idea that the organizational change would affect him in this way. He thought he was going to get more responsibility, not less. He felt personally betrayed by his manager over the change and even worse for not being able to follow through on promises he made to me and his other managers. He eventually left the company.
?The primary advice and takeaways are to know that:
??
?(First published in GateHouse News Service.)
Chief Information Officer | Executive | Thought Leader | Advisor | AI | Digital Transformation | Innovation | Information Technology | Strategy | Governance | Data | Planning | Operations | Computer Sc. | Communications
3 个月Thank you for sharing these insightful observations about the impact of promises in the workplace, Eric Bloom. Managers must understand that our commitments can significantly affect employee morale and trust. As a new manager, it can often take time to determine your decision-making power. In many organizations, managers are held accountable for everything. Still, there is usually a lack of clarity about their authority or decision rights, which may only be conveyed through policies or gentle or harsh reprimands. My recommendations to managers and leaders: ·??????Be humble about your abilities and limitations. ·??????Ask many questions. ·??????Seek guidance or mentorship.
IT Infrastructure Service Delivery
3 个月This happens often within fast moving, contractor/consultant business models where managers may not be in control far enough out to keep their promises. Let the staff beware.