Pushing uncommitted people is like driving a car without gas.
Commitment solves:
- Foot-dragging.
- Excuse-making.
- Constant supervision.
Commitment turns intention into action.
Compliance is forced. Commitment is given. The difference is relationship.
“If you want people to be committed, commit to them.” Dee Ann Turner, Former VP of Corporate Talent at Chick-fil-A, author of, “It’s My Pleasure.”
3 Ways to Ignite Commitment
#1. Care
Get out of leadership if you don’t care about people.
Don’t choose between results or relationships. Achieve results through relationships.
Invite people to commit. Don’t pressure them.
#2. Commit to People
Goal-driven leaders risk stepping on people.
Support results with people goals.
- Build development plans.
- Provide coaching and mentoring.
- Honor initiative and effort.
- Strengthen team relationships.
#3. Bring Benefit
Help people reach their goals.
Align personal and organizational goals. Alignment builds responsibility.
- Talk about their dreams.
- Connect personally.
- Care about their challenges and losses.
- Expect top performance.
Drive Meets Heart
No one commits to small-hearted leaders.
Generosity invites commitment.
Tenacity without generosity makes you a bulldozer.
Generosity without tenacity makes you a pushover.
Leadership generosity is open-hearted tenacity.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
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This post was previously published on LEADERSHIPFREAK.BLOG and is republished with Creative Commons license.
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At The Good Men Project, we are glad to share selected work from Leadership Freak, a publication focused on leadership, workplace relationships, communication, and the everyday habits that shape how people work together. We do not believe the workplace is a separate sphere from the rest of life. The way people lead, listen, praise, correct, and share power at work affects families, mental health, dignity, and the wider culture people carry home with them at the end of the day.
That is one reason this kind of writing matters to us. Reimagining masculinity also means reimagining work: what we reward, what we normalize, what we ask people to sacrifice, and whether leadership is measured by control or by care. We are interested in workplaces where people are treated equitably, where leadership is more humane and less performative, and where success does not automatically require giving away your health, your relationships, or your sense of security. Advice on leadership may seem small compared with those larger goals, but culture often changes through repeated daily behavior. How people treat one another in ordinary moments matters. It matters a lot.
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