Building Commitments
by
Charles Lamson
Keilty, Goldsmith, and Boone have performed extensive research in identifying and defining the qualities that make managers successful in helping their clients apply those qualities that make managers successful, and helping their clients apply those qualities within their own corporation or organization. As frequently happens, some individuals are admired and respected for the way they manage others, but the reasons for their success are not always apparent. Building on the work of McKinsey and Company, the internationally respected management consulting firm, and through their experience with many excellent companies and managers, they have developed valuable insights and a very useful model concerning managerial excellence, the Five Key Commitments model, shown in Figure 1. The essential qualities and relationships necessary for successful management can be explained and understood in terms of commitment, a characteristic common to all individuals recognized for managerial excellence. |
Figure 1 The Five Key Commitments Model
Managers carry out their tasks in an interpersonal world. Other people continually view the manager's manner, bearing, and conduct. From their observations, they form impressions of the manager's values, beliefs, and attitudes. Excellent managers make a powerful and positive impression on others because they blend a set of positive beliefs with an equally appropriate set of positive behaviors. These beliefs and actions form "commitments." The most effective managers share a fundamentally similar set of five commitments. These are:
Separately, each commitment is extremely important to effective management. Together, these commitments form the essential framework for long-term achievement of managerial excellence. True excellence seems to result from genuine dedication and positive service in all five areas in commitment.
Commitment to the Customer The first and probably most important management commitment focuses on the customer. Excellent managers strive to provide useful service to customers. A customer is defined as anyone who rightly should benefit from the work of a manager's unit. For some managers, their work directly affects the external customer. For other managers, the essential customer is internal. For example, employees in one unit often serve members of another unit in the same organization. Whether the customer is primarily external or internal, the key to this commitment is service. The two primary ways in which an excellent manager demonstrates strong commitment to the customer are serving the customer and building customer importance. Serving the customer boils down to consistent, conscientious dedication to customer needs. This requires responsiveness to customers through continually encouraging and listening to input from the people who use the manager's services or products. Clear, current identification of customer needs is necessary to genuinely serve the customer. In addition to knowing the customer and the needs of the customer, the excellent manager acts to solve customer problems in a timely manner. "Research has estimated that four out of five quality improvement efforts initiated by North American companies have either failed or experienced false starts," according to Tom Keiser, former president of the Forum Corporation. He and many others point the finger of responsibility at upper management. "Why do so many companies stumble? . . . Top management is often underinvolved in the effort. When they delegate the effort to lower levels of the organization, it inevitably fails." Building customer importance means presenting the customer in a positive manner to those who actually provide service to the customer. The customer is not always appreciated by others within an organization. In fact, some employees view the customer as a necessary evil. To these employees, the customer is the source of most problems and often is viewed as someone to be tolerated. Excellent managers build customer importance by (1) clearly communicating the importance of the customer to employees, (2) treating the customer as a top priority, and (3) prohibiting destructive comments about the people who use their work group's products or services. 
Robert Wayland and Paul Cole offer the following examples of principles an organization should adopt to acquire and retain loyal customers.
Commitment to the Organization
The second management commitment focuses on the organization. Effective managers personally project pride in their organizations. They also instill the same pride in others. A manager positively demonstrates this commitment in three ways: building the organization, supporting higher management, and operating by the basic organizational values.
Building the organization is achieved by constantly presenting the organization in a positive way. Most people lose their motivation if they are ashamed of where they work or are embarrassed by what they do. They want to be part of something positive. The excellent manager builds support for what the organization does and effectively prevents destructive comments.
Supporting higher management is essential to the loyalty any organization needs in order to function. Excellent managers add value to the organization by showing and inspiring this necessary loyalty. These managers view their position in the organization as involving a dual responsibility. The first responsibility is to actively challenge and lead "up" in the organization. The excellent manager takes decisions from above in the organization, makes them work, and expects others to do likewise. This manager does not blame higher management or pass the buck. The excellent manager's behavior strengthens the organization's ability to implement decisions and achieve objectives. Operating by the basic organizational values clearly communicates the importance of what the organization stands for. A difficult aspect of managerial excellence is living the values of the organization, especially when those values are challenged during trying times. If an organization has a clearly defined and communicated set of basic beliefs, it is the manager's responsibility to function in a manner consistent with those fundamental beliefs. Managers are the clearest models of what the organization stands for. The excellent manager lives up to this challenge and this commitment. Commitment to Self The third management commitment focuses on the manager personally. Excellent managers present a strong, positive image of others. They act as a positive force in all situations. This attitude is not to be mistaken as self-serving or selfish. Excellent managers are seen as individuals who combine strength with a sense of humility. Commitment to self is evidenced in three specific activities: demonstrating autonomy, building self as a manager, and accepting constructive criticism. Demonstrating autonomy is an important dimension for an effective manager. Within their own organizational units, excellent managers act as though they're running their own business. They take responsibility and ownership for decisions. They stand up for personal beliefs. When taking risks, they are reasonable and more concerned with achieving excellence than with "playing it safe."  Building self as a manager deals with the self-image a manager projects to others. Excellent managers appear confident and self-assured. They act on the basis of total integrity. They do not belittle or overplay their own accomplishments. It becomes obvious to others that these managers belong in their jobs. Excellent managers live up to the faith others place in them. They act on the basis of honesty and expressly behave with exceptional integrity. Accepting constructive criticism forms a balance with the first two aspects of a positive commitment to self. Many people act autonomously and worthy of their positions. It is the truly excellent manager who remains receptive to criticism or comment in order to become even better. Excellent managers demonstrate long-term ability to admit mistakes, encourage and accept constructive criticism, and, avoid recrimination and adverse reaction. In other words, after receiving personal feedback, excellent managers do not "shoot the messenger" or discount the message. It is not easy to graciously accept criticism. However, the ability to listen and to act positively to improve oneself is essential to sustain personal excellence over time. Commitment to People The fourth management commitment focuses on the work team and individual group members. Excellent managers display a dedication to the people who work for them. This commitment denotes the manager's use of the proper style of leadership to help individuals succeed in their tasks. Figure 2 reinforces the developmental process of matching leadership style to the ability and motivation of individuals. Positive commitment to people is demonstrated daily by a manager's willingness to spend the necessary time and energy working with people. Specifically, three vital activities constitute this commitment: showing positive concern and recognition, giving developmental feedback, and encouraging innovative ideas.  Showing positive concern and recognition focuses on the positive aspects of making people feel and act like winners by rewarding and reinforcing their performance. It also involves the creation of an environment in which people treat each other with courtesy and respect. For example, destructive comments concerning other people are not acceptable. Giving developmental feedback is a realistic method of dealing with individual performance failure or setback. People sometimes fail to live up to positive expectations. The excellent manager is willing to intervene when performance does not meet established standards. Using honest feedback, the excellent manager works with the individual to reestablish realistic performance goals. Also, the manager is willing to take the time to guide and coach the individual to improve performance. Encouraging innovative ideas demonstrates interest in others and stimulates individual and group progress. This positive action is often the difference between successful work teams and those that stagnate or disintegrate. The excellent manager taps into the full capacity of people through such common sense actions as listening to others' ideas, providing opportunities to test ideas, and directing the credit for a successful idea to its originator. These actions tend to create a desirable atmosphere of confidence, accomplishment, and trust. Part of this commitment to people includes recognizing diversity within your workforce and addressing its issues openly and with compassion. James Houghton of Corning, Inc., predicts: Unless [corporate America] wants to have a very limited pool of talent available we must learn to value and encourage a truly diverse workforce. Companies who do allow women, minorities, and foreign nationals to grow and contribute their potential (i.e., smashing the glass ceiling) will have a distinct competitive advantage. Our diversity as a nation can really work for us if we let it. Commitment to the Task The fifth management commitment concentrates on the tasks that need to be done. Successful managers give meaning and relevance to the tasks people perform. They provide focus and direction, assuring successful completion of tasks. The durability of a manager's excellence is demonstrated through the sustained high performance of the organizational unit managed. This commitment is achieved by keeping the right focus, keeping it simple, being action-oriented, and building task importance. Keeping the right focus refers to maintaining the proper perspective on tasks. The excellent manager concentrates everyone's attention on what is most important. That is determined through knowledge and support of the organization's overall mission. The excellent manager consistently ties individual objectives into larger organizational goals. Keeping it simple entails breaking work down into achievable components while avoiding unnecessary complications and procedures. The excellent manager fully considers objectives, tasks, and human capabilities, thus restraining the natural tendency to try to accomplish too much. Focus is clearly centered on major objectives within organizational priorities. Being action-oriented is simply described as accomplishing. Excellent managers get things done. They execute. They maintain positive momentum. Realistic deadlines are set and met. People are encouraged to take action, and a sense of positive direction and accomplishment results. Building task performance is the element that completes the fabric of managerial excellence. The excellent manager plays up the importance of the work. Excellence in task achievement is an expected result. Continuous excellence becomes the hallmark of the manager and the group. Managerial Excellence Consistently applied, the five commitments are the keys to effective management. The manager is the critical link among the commitments. The excellent manager takes a personal perspective with regard to the commitments (see Figure 3).  The excellent manager is central to the process of developing and containing commitments. By taking personal responsibility and acting as a positive force, the manager can strongly influence the organization and its people, tasks, and customers. The active involvement and personal integrity of excellent managers flow to others. Excellent companies have long realized that "they are their people." What separates the excellent companies from the rest appears to be that they simply are made up of a greater number of individual managers acting as models of excellence. These excellent managers recognize that their own task is to build specific commitments to the customer, organization, key tasks, people, and themselves. For each commitment, they build proper attitudes and demonstrate positive caring and concern. Building commitments becomes the responsibility of every employee, not just the manager. The excellent manager lives by the five commitments and works in concert with others to build commitments. Sustaining and replicating excellence is a reinforcing cyclical process based on the five key commitments (see Figure 4). Figure 4 The Commitments As a Reinforcing Cycle  Fundamentally, these commitments are built through dedication and service. When the excellent manager demonstrates genuine dedication and service to employees, they demonstrate a dedication and commitment to their tasks. This dedication to task excellence forms the basis for a strong dedication and service to the customer. The net result is that the customer benefits. As the customer profits, so does the organization. Customers maintain the organization's health and vitality through the same kind of dedication and loyalty to the organization. An organization experiencing continued customer loyalty is then in a position to build loyalty and dedication to its management by providing the tools for management's continued success. Long-term excellence is not a mystery. It is the result of building commitments. *SOURCE: MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: LEADING HUMAN RESOURCES, 8TH ED., 2001, PAUL HERSEY, KENNETH H. BLANCHARD, DEWEY E. JOHNSON, PGS. 363-374*
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