Keeping Your Commitments - Emerging Nurse Leader

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN

I once asked Dr. Tim Porter-O’Grady, a nationally respected nurse leader, about the key to his success. He replied, “when it comes right down to it – I do what I say I am going to do when I say I am going to do it. So few people do that today that if you do – you will stand out.” Over time, I found this to be very wise counsel. If you want influence in your leadership role, people need to be able to count on you even if keeping a commitment involves personal sacrifice. It is much better to say no to request than to agree to do it without following through. Leadership is all about trust and failing to follow through on a commitment is a breach of trust.

Author and blogger Michael Hyatt makes the following three observations about the inter-relationships between trust, influence and impact.

Trust depends on integrity. If people can’t rely on your word, they won’t trust you. They may extend some grace, but eventually people will doubt and disbelieve.
Influence depends on trust. People will refuse the influence of leaders they distrust. Just look at how this plays out in politics or the media. We follow people we trust.
Impact depends on influence. You can’t make the impact you want unless you can influence others and shift their behavior.

If you are not true to your word, the relationships you have as a leader will suffer. I see this all the time in my work as a graduate coordinator. Rarely, does a semester go by when I don’t have at least one graduate student who almost misses an admission deadline because their manager or director failed to fill out reference when they promised they would. Inevitability, the student is devastated but often tells me that this is typical behavior from their leader. There is irony in this because professional accountability is at the heart of nursing. Nurse leaders are expected in their roles to hold staff professionally accountable for their decisions and actions. It is very challenging to do this if you don’t hold yourself accountable for your behavior. Nurse leaders play a central role in determining the overall trust level on their units and expectations of staff regarding trust. Their ability to establish, grow, extend and restore trust is a key leadership competency.

In today’s environment, we are all very busy and forgetting to do something can easily happen. One strategy after you make a commitment is to say to the person – I will do it and if I don’t have this done within XX days – please don’t hesitate to remind me. In leadership, it is important to remember that the strength of our relationships is in how much people can count on us.

Read to Lead

Hyatt, M. (October 2014 Blog) Why keeping your commitments is key to your influence.