Page 209 - Fearless Leadership

196 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

1. Do I avoid making commitments? Do I only make commit-
ments when I have a convenient exit strategy for not delivering?
2. Am I a person of my word in all matters—large and small?
Do I only make commitments that I plan to keep, and do
I keep the commitments that I make?
3. Do I hold others and myself accountable for honoring commit-
ments, or do I allow commitments to slide?
4. Do I use “good” excuses or explanations to justify not fulfilling
commitments?
5. Do I deliver my commitments on time or do I miss deadlines?
6. Do I responsibly revoke commitments when necessary by
communicating prior to the deadline and taking accountability
for my impact?

LEADERSHIP ACTION

1. With your team, or with a committed partner, examine if you
honor and keep commitments by answering the following
questions:
• Do we trust each other’s word in all matters—large
and small?
• Do we keep our agreements to team members?
• Do we keep our agreements to nonteam members?
• Do others perceive us as keeping our word?
• Do we explain or justify our lack of delivering on a
commitment, or do we take accountability?
• Do we responsibly revoke commitments or do we just
allow them to slide and disappear?
• Do we hold each other accountable for commitments?
• Is our current behavior effective? Are we demonstrating
the behavior we expect from others? If not, how do we
need to change our behavior?
2. Identify specific requests you want to make of others.
To elicit a commitment from someone, you must be willing
to ask for what you want. However, we are seldom direct in
asking for what we want. Instead, we complain, imply, or