WALKING YOUR TALK

by Rashid Kotwal

How many people have you come across in your life and business who tell you just how great they are, just what they are going to do, how they are going to collaborate with you, etc.

Then you never see or hear from them again!

You meet someone socially, and you part with the usual "let’s keep in touch". More often than not, nothing will come of this.

On some level, at some time in our lives, we've all been guilty of this behaviour.

Have you ever thought about just what it costs you when you don't live up to your promises?

In some way, there is always a cost - be it emotional or financial. It may not be immediate, but at some point your pigeons will come home to roost and there may be a serious negative impact on your life.

Not Living Up To Expectations In Business...

As this is primarily a business newsletter, I'm going to focus on the ramifications not walking your talk can have on your business. However, as your business is a direct and full reflection of your life, you can apply these principles in your personal life too.

In an article on Referral Marketing, I've written about the "know you, like you, trust you" principle that is essential to any relationship.

Given this, would you agree that keeping your word would be an essential part of "trust you"?

Promises et al...

Promises (keeping your word) are an essential currency in both life and business.

Keeping your promises builds trust. Think of trust like a bank account. Each time you make a promise and keep it, you add to this trust bank account. The more you are trusted, the greater the reserves of both credit and credibility. Each time you break a promise, you deplete the account - sometimes totally in one hit! You can of course, go dramatically into the red, too.

An example of this is paying your bills on time. You would like to get paid on time, so why would you delay payment to your creditors? If you have a good history of payment, and build up trust, the one time you have a problem and can't make a payment, you are far more likely to get favourable terms from your creditor. Sometimes, this could mean the difference between getting a loan, or staying in business or not!

Another common scenario is telling your clients that you will do something by some date. You may find that you can't deliver, and rather than keeping them informed and letting them know as soon as you discover a problem, you let it slide and hope that they won't notice.

Well, I have news for you! They will notice, and you will lose credibility and trust. Do this once too often and you'll lose a client.

Over Committing Is A Common Issue...

Lots of people have trouble saying "no". They take on more than they can chew, and as a result, don't deliver anything on time.

If you fall into this trap, (as I did over 20 years ago), there are strategies that can cure this... call me and we can discuss how you can learn to say "no", structure your day, and change your perception of time, allowing you just as much time as you need to get everything done!

There Will Be Times...

We don't live in utopia, so there will be times when you can't keep a promise.

A promise is not a guarantee. It is a good faith commitment to perform some task at a specified time. Circumstances can get in the way. You now have a choice. You can break the promise in silence, or you can negotiate with the other party to
achieve a win-win outcome.

The Spirit and Terms of a Promise...

Imagine, for a moment, that a promise is made up of two parts. There is the spirit that the promise was made in, and the underlying terms.

Let’s say the spirit is the commitment to be accountable and complete. "I will be on the hook for this until I either deliver, or we both agree otherwise."

The terms are "I will deliver by Monday".

Making this distinction highlights the difference between revising and breaking a promise.

You revise a promise when you notify the other party as soon as possible that you can't fulfil the terms of the promise and propose a change.

While there is no guarantee that the other party will be happy with a revision of the promise, this is the only alternative that both honours the original agreement and current circumstances. It helps to keep your trust account topped up. This in turn leads to closing the "worry-holes" in your life through which you leak time and energy, allowing you to get on with your business and life.

You break a promise when you do nothing and just be silent, letting it slide. When you do this, credibility and trust can be totally destroyed and it can take a long time to rebuild, sometimes longer than your life time!

As in all things in life, the choice is yours.