Page 108 - The Voice of Authority

in the next morning at 4:00 and do it all again. I’d tell
my manager that we needed help in the department.
There were only six of us left where we used to have
12. And my boss would say, “Yeah, yeah, well, just me
know if you need any help with anything.” Well, I was
letting him know. He’d promise to get back to me
with help. But he never did. I just couldn’t take it any-
more.

Carole’s situation is not all that unusual. If we talked to
the manager involved, he might tell us that his boss was
saying to him when he asked for more headcount or larger
budget, “Yeah, yeah, just let me know if you need help with
anything.”
The promises have to synch somewhere. If you say you’ll
send the report, send the report. If you say you’ll call, call.
If you say you’ll arrange a meeting, arrange a meeting. If
you say you’ll add their name to the bidder list, add their
name to the list. If you say you’ll approve the funds, ap-
prove the funds.
Credible communicators follow through with what they
promise—or stop promising.

Enforce the Rules You Write
You hear politicians say it frequently: We don’t need more
laws; we just need to enforce the laws we already have on
the books.
The corporate version of that song? To be a credible com-
municator, apply the official policies you already have equi-
tably across the board. If you say X is cause for dismissal and
a favorite employee does X, you have to stand by your pol-
icy. If you say teams who achieve Z criteria deserve a bonus,
and eight of ten teams meet the criteria, give the bonus.

96 The Voice of Authority