Few people will make promises intending to break them. It’s impossible to predict the future, so how can you be certain that what you promise will turn out the way you need? You can’t. But, just because you can’t predict the future doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care about broken promises. In your professional and personal life, you must keep any promises you make. Otherwise, you’ll encounter some problems, but what are the key dangers?
A Reputation In Ruins
A company’s reputation is one of the most crucial elements of its success. Your brand recognition is built upon your reputation and without it, you risk falling behind competitors and even going out of business. Because of this, you must do everything you can to keep the promises you make, as broken promises are no way to impress business clients who could help your business grow.
You should know by now that word travels fast in every industry. People talk, and the more you fail to fulfill your promises, the less interest other brands will have in working with you. It’s easy enough to see where this is going, so if you want to maintain your reputation and continue working with reliable suppliers and clients, keeping promises is a must.
Poor Employee Engagement
As important as your reputation is, you won’t be able to maintain it at all if you don’t focus on the internal promises you make. This is what you tell your employees, whether offering time off, raises, or bonuses for excellent work.
It’s all well and good saying a successful project will be rewarded, but you need to follow through with it. Companies can learn more about how important these promises and incentives are to ensure consistent employee engagement. If you fail to keep your staff engaged, they won’t have the motivation to give it their all, which will soon show in the quality of work that could harm your business even more.
High Turnover
There are many reasons a business experiences high turnover, but consistently broken promises rank high amongst some of the worst offenders. Breaking promises regularly means your employees won’t feel valued, and this will cause them to look elsewhere. This means you could experience gaps in your workforce and need to spend time training new employees.
It could get even worse, though. The more turnover you experience, the less likely it is that others will want to work for you. This creates a turnover cycle that can be difficult to escape from. You won’t be able to attract the best talent and keep them in your business if you don’t make significant changes to your approach, and you can start with making sure you keep any promises you make.
Keeping Promises
It can be difficult to keep promises, but that shouldn’t give you an excuse to break them just because it’s inconvenient. Broken promises can have a tidal wave effect on your business, and too many broken promises will make it impossible to regain your reputation, keep your employees motivated, and even keep them at your business. Because of this, you need to consider whether making promises you can’t keep is even worth it.