The habits of outstandingly reliable people

Most people are promises making and keeping machines! A typical staff member will manage 2000 promises a year… minimum (some many more)… plus they have to track the promises other people make to them. Some deliver well on their promises; others do not- yet reliable people are rarely recognized or directly supported.

Our research has shown that very reliable people do things differently from the normal staff member. A few of the many findings:

• They know how to promise well (the book describes the ten secrets for making the perfect promise)
• They spend much more time negotiating and agreeing the parameters of a promise
• They know how to say no without saying no- saying no is not acceptable in many organizations
• Without exception, they have systems to follow up on less reliable people.

The book maps out the work process outstandingly reliable people use. The outcome: highly reliable people can be ten times more productive than the typical employee.

Practical things for managers wishing to improve internal reliability:

• Get a vocabulary for the different roles in making and keeping promises
• Learn how to diagnose a broken promise and evaluate wastage using the promise pathway methodology
• Train in good promising work practices.

Dismiss the idea that reliable people are boring… they aren’t… to be highly reliable requires real creativity.