Leadership Accountability: Having Your Word Prevail 

This article is the first in a series where we will investigate and discover what it takes, as a Leader, to have the word you’ve given to the future PREVAIL.

As a transformational leadership coach and consultant most of what we deal with is empowering our clients to give their word to a future and then be that word day after day, to fulfill on that future. This sounds simple and although it is a simple concept it proves to be very challenging as lived.

What we have found is that a common pitfall happens in the moment when a word is given.  One would assume that at the moment the word is given, it has the most power and highest likelihood of being honored.  This can only be true when that word was thoroughly considered, created in an empowering context and put into a reliable existence system.

Without an intention and a possibility that is an expression of that Leader’s own concerns, a word can quickly devolve into an obligation. In which case this word lacks the powerful component of longevity to sustain the many obstacles that will no doubt occur in the future where one is required to take consistent action to fulfill on that word.

Look for yourself and see if in the areas you have been reliable for being your word if you were fulfilling on something that was very important to you.  Did you get easily stopped or thwarted when things didn’t go your way? Or did you persevere with creativity and tenacity to make that thing happen that you gave your word to? You will likely find that indeed you were pulled into action by the possibility you gave your word to fulfilling.

On the other hand, take a look at areas where you are not reliable for honoring your word. Is something missing in the realm of a possibility, intention or existence system that if it were there would pull you into action and through challenges and obstacles? Have you said “Yes, I’ll do that.” without really doing the thinking of what that will require from you? Have you said “Yes, I’ll do that.” to look good or avoid looking bad, a context that will likely fail you down the road as it lacks the component of authentic self-expression.

Taking this a step further, as a Leader is your staff saying “Yes, I’ll do that.” as a way to appease you or the team and if so, how reliable is that word? We love hearing “Yes, I’ll do that.” when we make a request of someone, so much so that we won’t inspect that yes as a reliable word that will empower the giver of the word. Inspecting a word that is being given, whether it be our own or a person on our team, or even our own children, is a crucial aspect of having our word be fulfilled.

It is never too late to create an empowering context, an intention and a reliable existence system for our word. In fact, you may need to do it several times for the same word since these can go out of existence as quickly as the air we breathe to give the word leaves our lungs. A great Leader knows the possibility a word fulfills on and will bring that possibility into existence repeatedly for themselves and their team, rather than living in the world of bewilderment as to why they are not performing as to the word they gave.

The game of fulfilling your word is a fun and worthy game, but don’t forget to set yourself and your team up to win BEFORE that word is given.

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