By Grayson James
When I talk with leaders about their teams’ execution, I hear two common perspectives: What I’ll call the Rational View and the Enigmatic View.
The Rational View sees execution as a straightforward process that begins with a clear articulation of an objective and is followed by the planning and then the actions needed to achieve the objective. In this view, when an objective (or goal or target) is clearly laid out, anyone with the appropriate job description, requisite skills, and available time should be expected to execute well and achieve the objective.
This makes sense because in a rational world, job description + skills + time should equal successful execution. When these leaders’ teams don’t execute well, the leaders sensibly focus on analyzing and clarifying these obvious variables in the equation (objectives, job description, skills, and time). By the time I enter the picture, these leaders—and their teams—are usually frustrated, out of patience, and often perplexed. After all, what should be so difficult about such a rational process?
In the Enigmatic view, execution is shrouded in factors that are just as compelling but more mysterious and difficult to pin down. There are still job descriptions, skills, and time, of course, but from this perspective, execution is governed less by linear, rational factors than by things like personality types, motivations, emotions, and interpersonal dynamics.
Both of these views are valid, and they each point to important factors to consider when you want to improve your team’s execution. Great execution is both rational and, at times, somewhat mysterious. (Who can truly know what different individuals’ personality types are or how their various emotional states may be influencing their execution?)
But both of these views also miss something critical. Something that’s often hidden in plain sight (and missing from most books, business school classes, and workshops on execution): They miss recognizing that execution is fundamentally about personal commitment. About one human being’s commitment to another human being.
This isn’t a new-age platitude. It’s actually a hard-nosed and deeply practical perspective that recognizes the source of all organizational performance. It’s personal.
The Promise of Performance
When we trust our team’s performance to “objective” job descriptions, goals, or targets—or to personality types, feelings, or motivations, we’re trusting ourselves to inert concepts, to abstractions. But abstract notions can’t perform—there’s nobody there. It’s people who perform, and the way they perform depends upon what they’re committed to.
I often ask my clients, “Which would you rather take to the bank—someone’s job description, their feelings that day, or their personal promise? Strong execution comes from good promises that are managed well.
So, how do you get good promises? And what does it mean to manage promises well?
There are six basic questions that help to produce good promises:
1. Who is the Customer?
As a leader of a team or organization, you’ll be the Customer for many promises made to you by your team members and others. But you’ll also be playing the role of Promisor for some promises, even to promises in which the Customer for that promise may be made to someone who works for you or is lower down the organizational hierarchy. What matters most is that every promise must have a Customer. And that Customer must be a human being who knows why the promise matters and what value the promise must produce when it’s fulfilled. That is the personal commitment of a good Customer.
2. Who is the Promisor?
The Promisor is the person who commits herself to fulfilling the promise for the Customer. The Promisor should have the skills, resources, and time to fulfill the promise to the Customer’s satisfaction and the personal commitment to do what it takes to make it all happen.
3. What actions and outcomes will satisfy the Customer?
Promises are about satisfying the Customer—who is often the person who writes (or approves) the check to the Promisor for fulfilling the promise. So, taking the time upfront to negotiate and be crystal clear about the Customer’s conditions of satisfaction for the promise is critical. The specific actions to be taken to fulfill the promise can sometimes be left to the Promisor, especially when the Customer has strong trust in the Promisor’s judgment, track record, and/or ethics.
Some Customers (such as external Customers who purchase the products or services of the company), don’t care or even want to know what the promisor must do to fulfill their promise. But internal customers, like team leaders, often do care as much about how the promise is being fulfilled as that it is fulfilled.
4. How does this promise align with and support the other important promises the parties are managing or know about in the organization?
Try to anticipate with your Promisor the possible obstacles you each might encounter before they happen (including the status of those promises made to you by others that are necessary for you to keep your promise).
Continually listen for potentially conflicting organizational priorities or commitments (including other promises) that may interfere with the Promisor’s capacity or willingness to fulfill your promise—or your ability to keep supporting the promise as a Customer.
5. Due Dates—When will the promise be fulfilled?
This is very straightforward, but it’s still often missing—especially when the Customer and Promisor have worked with each other for a long time. But even then, it’s helpful to nail down specific dates because “Please prepare that report for me whenever you get to it” can mean very different things to different people.
6. How do you both want to be kept informed?
Talk with each other about how you each like to be kept updated as to the status of your promise. Do you want weekly email updates? A phone call every morning (for super time-critical promises)? Or would you just like to be told if something comes up that might jeopardize the promise? This is for each of you to decide and agree upon. The main thing is to keep each other informed throughout the promise so there are no avoidable surprises.
OK, let’s say you’ve thoroughly discussed each of these six questions with your Promisor and feel satisfied that you’re both on the same page. Do you have a good promise?
Not necessarily. The one thing missing is what actually makes a promise a promise: Their personal commitment.
A promise is only a promise when you feel you have a true personal commitment from the other person. The six questions will give you clarity, but absent the personal commitment, it’s just words.
Is this person’s commitment something you can absolutely know for certain? Of course not, but neither can the bank when it gives you a mortgage to buy your house, nor the credit card company that lends you the money to pay for your vacation, nor even the plumber who fixes your leaky pipe and sends you the bill later.
Even The Best Promises Can’t Always be Kept
Life can get complicated. All sorts of unanticipated things can happen between the time a promise is made and when it is fulfilled. But even when the Promisor is facing difficulties or can’t fulfill the promise, their personal commitment makes it much more likely they’ll stay engaged and do what they can to minimize the damage from the broken promise.
As a Customer, you are dependent upon the efforts, competence, and commitment of your Promisor. But this doesn’t mean you’re powerless or must be a passive recipient of whatever happens. When your promises matter to you and your organization, there are several things you can do to improve the likelihood of success with your promises…
If you’re unsatisfied with the promise, don’t just “let it slide.” That’s a recipe for poor execution (and simmering resentment). Have a respectful conversation with the Promisor to clarify and compare expectations and give him/her a chance to make things right. Even though these conversations can be uncomfortable, they are the path toward improving execution, accountability, and performance. If handled with respect, even a broken promise can increase trust.
Whether you’re satisfied or not with your Promisor’s performance on this promise, always close the loop and learn from it.
If you really want to transform your team’s execution, you need to get personal.
By continually reflecting together with your team members about how you’re all managing your promises, you’ll transform the team’s execution and build a culture of high performance in which everyone can show up their best and deliver on their own personal commitments.
About the Author: Grayson James has been helping executives, boards and senior management teams improve their collaborative business performance for over 30 years. In addition to coaching senior executives and teams, he facilitates organizational change initiatives and provides collaborative leadership education internationally through his consulting firm, Grayson James Consultants, LLC + Full Contact Institute. He holds a 6th degree black belt in Aikido, designed and leads the highly acclaimed Full Contact Collaboration workshops worldwide, and is the author of the new book, Full Contact Performance: The Internal Art Of Organizational Collaboration.