The Trust Factor: Why Consistency and Follow-Through Matter in Business
We can probably all agree that one of the most important foundations of a relationship is trust. It should go without saying that this is not just the case in your personal life, but within the business world as well. Trust and credibility are crucial to building successful relationships with guests, employees, and partners. And one of the most important aspects of building that trust comes from doing what you say you will.
Consider the ramifications of not following through on promises or commitments when it comes to your business, or your role within an organization. It can have serious consequences for your company, and your career, including a loss of credibility.
If you promise to deliver a product or service and fail to do so, your credibility suffers. Life happens and certain circumstances are unavoidable, of course, but word travels fast in most industries and a damaged reputation can make it difficult to attract new guests or talent, or even maintain existing relationships.
As an organization, the commitment to follow up and follow through is especially important in maintaining positive relationships with employees and team members. After a few (or, maybe even one) failed promise or even failed update, employee retention may be affected, directly or indirectly impacting employee morale and your bottom line. Overall, honoring commitments to employees is not just a matter of good business practice but also reflects your organization's values and commitment to its workforce.
To avoid the consequences of not following through on your promises, and to make it easier to consistently follow up and follow through, here are five tips to help ensure you always do what you say you will:
Set Realistic Goals: Before making any promises, take the time to assess whether you can realistically deliver. Be honest with yourself and your clients or customers about what you can and cannot do, and consider building in some wiggle room with the time allotted for a project.
Communicate Effectively: Clear communication is key to ensuring you deliver on your promises. This requires you to not only make sure you are clear about scope and timeframe, but also if or when any issues arise that may impact your ability to meet specific deadlines. What most people miss is communicating when they know they will miss their deadline. Follow up in these scenarios is critical so your reputation and relationships does not suffer.
Prioritize Tasks: Prioritize the most critical elements first in order to stay on track. Assign each to-do item a projected amount of time it will take to complete, and if needed bring in additional resources or team members to ensure the timeline moves along properly.
Be Accountable: If you do encounter any issues that may impact your timeline or overall ability to execute effectively, be accountable. Take ownership of the problem while also working as efficiently as possible to find a solution. At the end of the day, accountability occurs when individuals reliably deliver on their commitments
Follow Through: The single most important aspect of honoring your commitments is your follow-through. This is how you truly begin to build up that trust and loyalty with your business relationships.
Doing what you say you will do sounds simple enough, right? Yet it is oftentimes a very overlooked piece of the successful business relationship puzzle. It is crucial to building trust and credibility.
By doing so, you can create strong and successful relationships with your guests and employees. When we follow through on our promises, we (individual or business) become dependable for others, and that, in turn, creates more opportunities for us in our career, but also for our organization as a whole. When life happens and you know you are going to miss a deadline or a project completion, raise your hand, communicate, follow up and follow through. We should all strive to honor our word within our myriad of relationships, and these tips are simply a starting point to set any one of us up for success in doing just that.