Where is Your Commitment?

I’ve recently had the opportunity to see inside a few organizations to understand just exactly where the commitment lies. It’s been eye-opening, and has caused me to really understand how people are motivated differently, and how effective, or ineffective it can cause the organization to become.
Commitment to the organization, its mission, vision, goals and objectives should be expected from all members of the organization. As an organizational leader, it’s important to make sure you provide a clear aiming point. Be specific about explaining the standards of commitment you are personally adhering to, and you expect them to adhere to. This commitment should be communicated to board members, city council members and other stakeholders as well. If you clearly outline your commitment to established goals and objectives, stakeholder buy-in is much easier to attain.
Focus on the possibilities that are created with the goals and objectives you’ve developed and behave consistently, demonstrating your commitment through your actions. Many times it seems so much organizational focus is placed on putting out fires, solving problems, or dealing with naysayers or negative attitudes. To quote a line from a book by Price Pritchett entitled, “Firing Up Commitment During Organizational Change”, “Too much respect for problems kills our faith in possibilities.”
Problems come up, sometimes daily, but by focusing on the problems and not the possibilities generated from achieving your goals and objectives, you will spend an extraordinary amount of time spinning on those problems, and often will lose sight of the direction you’ve set for the organization, community or business.
If you are dedicated to the organization and demonstrate that through commitment, holding your standards high for your employees, colleagues and external stakeholders, behavior starts to matter. Attitude and performance begin to make a big difference to the people involved. It’s then that you must reward your people for their commitment, or the commitment will start running on empty. In an effort to legitimately expect more commitment, make sure they have a true vested interest in the results. Provide an opportunity for shared recognition, a psychological paycheck so to speak, or other tangible or intangible reward. A sense of ownership in community revitalization work goes a long way to a shared feeling of pride. Being able to stand back and see the skyline or landscape changed and see people enjoy and appreciate the changes is very rewarding.