Your Agreements Show Your Integrity
By Michael Angier
Except for disease and climatic disasters, I believe that most of the
world’s problems result from people not keeping their agreements.
Think about it. From countries to corporations to families and friends,
most every upset--little or large--can be traced back to someone not
keeping up their end of the bargain.
Wars break out, companies fail, marriages end, friendships fracture and
deals fall through simply because of broken agreements.
We all make agreements every day. Some seem small and insignificant: an
agreed upon time to meet, a promise to run an errand. Others are seen as
bigger and more important: a formal contract, signing a loan agreement.
But all of them are important. Because this is the way trust is earned.
A person’s reputation is built upon their ability to make and keep
agreements.
Your life, and the lives of those around you, will work better when
agreements are carefully made and diligently kept. The quality of your
life is in direct relation to the quality of your agreements.
Here are seven tips to help you become and remain a person who can be
counted upon:
1. Take All Agreements Seriously
When you agree to do something … do it. And do it when you said you
would in the way you agreed to do it. When you agree to meet someone, be
sure to be there and be on time. Agreements with yourself matter, too. If
you promise yourself that you’ll exercise today, keep your promise.
Develop the HABIT of keeping your agreements.
2. Be Careful What You Agree To
Don’t give your word lightly. Many people find it easier to say yes
instead of no. But it’s far better to be a bit guarded with what we agree
to do because we can find ourselves getting over-committed and then unable
to complete what we said we would.
3. Keep Track of Your Agreements
In the course of a week we might enter into dozens of agreements. We
must have some way to track these promises—a follow-up system to keep
yourself, and those you deal with, on top of what was promised. Write them
down. You may have great intentions, but if you forget to do what you
agreed to do, the result is the same as you CHOOSING not to keep your
agreement.
4. Make Sure Your Agreements Are Clear
With a written agreement you have a prayer. With a verbal agreement
you’ve got nothing but air. It’s always best to have a written agreement,
even if it’s just a letter or note of understanding. It’s much easier to
iron out any confusion later if it was written down and no one has to rely
on the memory of a conversation.
5. Be Careful With Whom You Make Agreements
There’s an old adage, "Cheat me once, shame on you; cheat me twice,
shame on me." If you make agreements with people who have a history of not
keeping them, you’re leaving yourself wide open for disappointment.
6. Renegotiate When You’re Unable to Keep Your Agreement
When you find yourself unable or unwilling to complete an agreement,
always go to the other party or parties and renegotiate. It may be
uncomfortable but it will keep you in integrity and has far more class
than simply not addressing the issue.
7. Manage by Agreement
Instead of just telling someone to do something, ask them if they would
agree to doing thus and so by such and such time. If I tell someone to do
something, they might do it because they were told to do so, but if I ask
them and gain their agreement, I’ve got a lot better chance that it’ll get
done. In using this method, you also find out if your request was clearly
understood.
By paying careful attention to the agreements we make, tracking them
and developing the habit of keeping all our agreements we become and
remain a person of integrity.
Our lives and the world around us work in direct proportion to the
quality of our agreements.
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