"Promise-Based Management"

Donald Sull and Charles Spinosa

Harvard Business Review

April 2007, pp. 78-86

The authors of this article argue that "At its heart, every company is a dynamic network of promises. Employees up and down the corporate hierarchy make pledges to one another—the typical management by objectives. Employees also make commitments to colleagues in other divisions and to customers, outsourcing partners, and other stakeholders. Promises are the strands that weave together coordinated activity in organizations." Systematically coordinating these commitments is what the authors call Promise-Based Management, and they list a number of ways that Promise-Based Management can be successfully applied to alleviate the following major obstacles to getting things done:

• Organizational silos hinder coordination
• Employees are disengaged
• The organization lacks clear accountability
• The organization lacks agility
• Stakeholders don't trust executives to honor their commitments
• The organization is trapped in the status quo

The article discusses in some detail what the authors consider to be the five characteristics of a good promise:

• Good promises are public—In order for promises to be seen as more binding, promises should be made in public, remain public throughout the life of the commitment, be publicly monitored, and completed in public.
• Good promises are active—There should be active conversations involving offers, counteroffers, commitments, and refusals.
• Good promises are voluntary—Compelling people to comply with each and every request leads to less feeling of personal responsibility for the commitment. There should be space for counteroffers or even declines if the request appears unreasonable.
• Good promises are explicit—"Requests must be clear from the start, progress reports should accurately reflect how the promise is being executed, and success (or failure) should be outlined in detail at the time of delivery."
• Good promises are mission based—The rationale is explained, and enough time is taken to be sure that the importance of the promise is understood.

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