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Promise-based management: the essence of execution
Donald N Sull1, Charles Spinosa
1London Business School, England. dsull@london.edu
Harvard Business Review
|April 17, 2007
Summary
Effective management relies on systematically cultivating and coordinating commitments. Promise-based management enhances coordination, organizational agility, and employee engagement by ensuring reliable fulfillment of public, active, voluntary, explicit, and mission-based promises.
Area of Science:
- Organizational Behavior
- Management Science
Background:
- Critical initiatives frequently fail due to employee disengagement, functional misalignment, and obscured accountability.
- Organizational challenges often originate from ineffective or poorly defined commitments.
- Businesses function as intricate networks of promises among employees, customers, and partners.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and advocate for 'promise-based management' as a strategy to overcome organizational obstacles.
- To provide a framework for systematically cultivating and coordinating commitments.
- To enhance coordination, cooperation, and organizational agility.
Main Methods:
- Defining 'good promises' by five key qualities: public, active, voluntary, explicit, and mission-based.
- Outlining a three-phase conversational process for developing and executing promises: meeting of minds, making it happen, and closing the loop.
- Emphasizing the leader's role in managing webs of promises and encouraging iterative conversations.
Main Results:
- Practicing promise-based management can overcome short-term problems and foster reliable workforces.
- Systematic commitment management improves coordination and cooperation among colleagues.
- Effective promise management enhances organizational agility and taps into employee entrepreneurial energy.
Conclusions:
- Leaders must carefully manage organizational webs of promises to ensure reliable fulfillment.
- Promise-based management offers a robust approach to improving operational efficiency and strategic execution.
- This management style can unlock greater potential within the workforce and drive business success.
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