Making promises you can’t keep
There is an old expression that says, “No good deed will go unpunished.” Never has this been more applicable than in IT today.
There is more and more emphasis on the technical services coming out of IT that are critical for the organization to run, to compete and to be able to quickly take advantage of market shifts. This ever increasing reliance causes company executives to focus not only on the strategic and operational systems managed in IT but also the staff issues and other relationships that are important to keep things running smoothly. Careful attention to the promises you make as an IT manager, in technical and personnel areas is vital to your continued professional success.
In some ways, making promises you can’t keep to IT staff can have a more devastating effect on you, the department and the company than project and/or technical promises. This is because there is general acceptance that in technical & project arenas there are a great many and complicated variables and personally controlling them all is extremely difficult. However as an IT leader, managing and leading people is “Job One.” There is tendency to pay insufficient attention to people issues especially in an area like IT that is perceived as so technically driven.
When trying to motivate a subordinate, hire a new IT employee, promote a staff member, or help out an internal/external customer or an IT vendor, you can promise to try, but never promise that you can deliver, unless it is totally within your personal authority to do so.
- If you promise to give a subordinate a raise and then can’t deliver, you will likely
- Lose credibility with that individual
- Demonstrate weakness to your staff, because people talk, particularly if they’re not happy
- Cause unexpected attrition—the employee resigns
- End up losing the trust, respect, and ultimately be in trouble with, your boss and/or Human Resources. You can also expose the company to liability.
- If you personally promise something to a customer and can’t deliver, you may cause the loss of a sale, or permanently lose the customer
- If you personally promise something to an IT vendor and can’t deliver, it may destroy a valuable vendor relationship, and/or cause legal action
For you personally, based on the severity of the issue, you may receive a verbal reprimand, receive a written warning, or even potentially lose your job. Remember, as an IT manager, you are a representative of your company to the external world and the voice of the company to those in IT that you manage.
As an example of a promise gone very wrong, say that you got a referral from a member of your technical team and promised to hire this person into IT and approve a referral bonus for your team member. On this promise, the job candidate quits their old job and then to your surprise, your company announced a hiring freeze that affects IT and before the final paperwork was approved. The candidate is out of work because of you and your referring subordinate loses faith in you. The candidate may just yell and scream at you, your boss, Human Resources, and anyone else that would listen. They might also sue the company. In any case, you have caused major personal problems for the person you were trying to hire, created staff mistrust and have made yourself look ineffective and incompetent as an IT leader.
There are some specific circumstances when you can generally promise things to the people in your IT group. These include:
- You get written approval ahead of time from Human Resources, your boss, or other appropriate authority
- That promise is in a written, pre-approved offer letter when an IT hire is made.
- If there is a written company policy that includes IT stating that an employee receives a raise, promotion, or other reward if certain criteria are met
I once had a manager who promised I would receive a bonus if the IT project I was leading went well and was delivered on time. The project ran smoothly and was delivered on schedule, but I never received my bonus. As a result, I lost respect for that manager and eventually transferred to another department in IT. In retrospect, I don’t know if he tried to get me a bonus and was unsuccessful, never bothered to follow up on his promise, or never originally intended to give me a bonus. That said, to me as a member of his IT staff, it was all the same.
Eric Bloom
President and founder of Manager Mechanics, LLC
Eric is also a nationally syndicated columnist, entrepreneur, speaker, award winning author and trainer in IT management skills. By pioneering IT leadership education in traditional classroom settings, as well as online platforms and advanced virtual worlds, Eric’s team provides strategic education to firms who value superior IT leadership, a strong teamwork ethic, IT innovation for competitive advantage, and planned succession to consciously control recruiting and retention.
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