A quiz on Promises Management

Question 1. Managing promises can be a four handed balancing act… not just two. Two of your hands are used balancing the promises you make with delivering on them. Which of the statements below best describe what the other two hands are used for:

A: The other two hands are for fending off people who want you to carry out even more promises.

B: The other two are for managing the promises made to you by other people.

C: To keep unreliable people at arm’s length

Question 2. Highly dependable people and organizations are able to systematically make realistic promises and then routinely deliver on them. More than anything else, this creates trust with the stakeholders involved. Not everyone, however, is able to achieve this. Look the profile of Tom below:

Tom is overly optimistic about his abilities and limitations (even though he is very capable) and has got a reputation for frequently insisting that he can do work that most people know he is not capable of. Tom regularly gets passed up for promotion and does not get recognized for his real talent. His managers look at what he says with skepticism because they have been burnt in the past. Tom is a “trumpeter”.

Which of the three statements below best describe Tom’s personal promises management status?

A: Tom is a positive promiser whose undertakings are well balanced with his ambitions

B: Tom gets passed up for promotion because he doesn’t deliver on what he promises..

C: Tom’s real problem is that his promising is out of balance with his ability to deliver

Question 3. Research with industrial buyers has shown that reliability is the quality that most impresses them about the people they deal with and poor reliability the quality that most annoys them.

A: Won’t commit… not pressing reset… the dropped pass

B: In the end, it all comes down to responsiveness, responsiveness, responsiveness.

C: Talking and not acting… no empathy… lacking the product knowledge

Question 4. There’s a remarkable consistency to what outstandingly reliable people do. Here’s a list below with one odd item inserted in as part of this quiz. Which of the following is the odd item out?
1. Annoying about details
2. Dammit, they might even refuse!
3. Painfully accurate about to do’s
4. “Head on the block”
5. Manage hiccups
6. Pass responsibility on effectively

A: “Head on the block”

B: Dammit, they might even refuse.

C: Pass responsibility on effectively

Question 5. There’s also a remarkable consistency to what unreliable people are like. Here’s list below of the typical characteristics of unreliable people with one odd item inserted in as part of this quiz. Which of the following is the odd item out?
1. Take a lot on
2. Difficult to say no
3. Commitment discomfort
4. No lists
5. Jog calls
6. Blame others for letting you down
7. Late’s OK

A: “Jog calls”

B: “Difficult to say no”

C: “Commitment discomfort”