Want to be a more committed leader? Here are 6 offerings - Who Dares Commits

The purpose of Leadership is to create a vision of the future and to inspire and motivate followers  towards that future. Because we can never be sure what the future will bring it often requires leaders and followers to commit to a vision and take a ‘leap of faith’ towards it. This ‘leap of faith’ can occur to us as exciting and/or trepidatious. The excitement can be euphoric and the trepidation overwhelming and nullifying. Perhaps the decision to take the lead or not, depends on which of these two wins out. “Go throw your hat over the fence”

Why Commit?

“You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore” Andre Gide

The short answer is that some of the greatest breakthroughs in human history have occurred when people (I want to call them leaders) have created a new vision of the future and committed to it. These breakthroughs bring with them the potential for tremendous personal growth and development.

 All great achievements and breakthroughs in life require people to commit. Let’s begin by inspiring you with some great examples of committed leadership and then unpack 6 offerings that support you to be an even better leader.

Some Salient Examples

Since the beginning of time there have been many examples of people who have committed to a new and better future. Here are some examples ….

Hernán Cortés

In the year 1519 Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés sought adventure in the new world. He famously landed on the coast of Mexico and founded the settlement of Veracruz. Cortez burned his ships behind him, thereby committing his entire fleet to survival through conquest. As a kid growing up, we called this sort of commitment “Sydney or the Bush” (meaning everything or nothing), somehow these days I think this analogy may no longer be appropriate.

Roger Bannister

In 1952 British middle distance runner Roger Bannister was the first to break the 4 minute barrier for the mile. Prior to this many pundits believed that it couldn’t be done. Within months after this several athletes (including Aussie John Landy) ran the mile under four minutes thus breaking the psychological barrier. This all occurred because Bannister committed to breaking the 4 minute barrier, a barrier that had been there for many years prior to this.

A decade later John Fitzgerald Kennedy announced that the USA would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade even though scientists at the time did not yet know how it would be done. Again another commitment that required a leap of faith. I want it to be clear that I am not detracting from science here. It was science that got us there – not intuition or common sense. Perhaps a relevant side note - my son Samuel reminded me of a quote from actor Bill Murray: “Common Sense is so rare these days it should be classified as a super power”

Dylan Alcott

More recently Australians such as Dylan Alcott reinvented commitments for himself many times, representing Australia at the national level at Wheelchair Basketball and Tennis. He is a media celebrity and has established the Dylan Alcott Foundation with the core purpose of helping young Australians with disabilities gain self-esteem and respect through sport and study.

Fiona Wood

Fiona Wood, a plastic surgeon who invented “spray-on skin” technology for use in treating burn victims. From the early 1990’s she committed herself to research to improve and establish techniques of skin repair. A practice that saved many lives after the Bali Bombings in 2003 – she was awarded the Order of Australia.

Not all Commitments are by Famous People

You don’t have to look too far to find everyday people who engage in breakthrough commitments in their lives.  For example. 66 year old supervisor; I’ll call him Bill…….. because that was his name.

Bill was from the night shift at Caltex Lytton Oil Refinery who one night in front of his team, committed to making sure that he would always stay on designated pathways in order to reduce the risk of injury and to set a good example for his team.

This was a brave move for a man who had everything to lose by failing to meet his commitment but somehow found a way to declare it anyway. Sorry, I don’t have a copy of Bill’s surname or his photo.

There are many, many other examples of everyday people making commitments that create breakthroughs in the way that they relate to their future.

6 things you need to know to be a more committed leader

1.     Committing to What’s Possible is not Daydreaming

Commitments come into being by you declaring to yourself what it is that you will stand for. The commitment will often be a lot stronger if you declare it in public. This is not about ‘big-noting’. A public declaration of a commitment is an invitation for others to support you with your commitment. A marriage ceremony is great example of the impact a public declaration has on all parties. 

2.     Focus on the Future

Don’t be scared to make a promise or to be put off by all the evidence from the past that may prevent you from committing to your new declared future. The future cannot always be determined by the past. Research shows that we move in the direction of our images of the future. This is a key principle (Anticipatory Principle) of Appreciative Inquiry.

3.     Intention Versus Goal

Frame your commitment up to be an intention about the future rather than a goal. Intentions are far broader and more enduring than goals. They are also easier to internalise. Once you set a goal and you experience some sort of failure people tend to give up and dismiss the commitment – a result that can potential eat away at self-esteem and self-efficacy. Intensions allow you to drift in and out of the intensity with your selected commitment. To me this fits in with the  Simon Sinek Thinking– ‘The Why’

4.     Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway

 You don’t have to be absolutely sure that you will succeed with your stated commitment. People often commit to something but don’t actually follow through with it because of the fear that they will be hypocrites or failures if they do not succeed. The hidden commitment is to avoid this judgement by viewing ‘not committing’ as the only psychological safe option. In this case there is a Big Assumption that people will actually regard them as hypocrites and failures.

There are several remedies to this. I usually advise my clients to test the ‘Big Assumption’ preferably in a safe place, if possible. For more information see more about Hidden Commitments by viewing ‘The Real Reason People don’t Change’. 

5.     Knowledge of the Future

A  commitment to a newly declared future often means that  to achieve it, you will need to ‘know more’ than you currently do. At the point when the opportunity to make a commitment becomes apparent you don’t know what you need to be able to know to fulfil the commitment. This may discourage  you from committing to a new future. Don’t be put off by this – you need to have faith that through your commitment you will learn what you need to know to be able to fulfil it.

6.     Commitments Improve Life Satisfaction

The degree to which you are able to make and fulfil commitments is key factor that impacts the level of satisfaction that you achieve in life. For more information check this out with researcher Jussi Suikkanen’s theory of life satisfaction model.

Hope you have found this helpful. Feel free to call me if you need assistance with organisational or Leader Commitments.