Leadership, Trust & your Say-Do Ratio

How often have you heard someone say “… he’s all talk and no action …” or “ … talk is cheap, money buys whiskey …”? 

Trust

Would you trust that person to follow through on what they say they are going to do? Whatever the nature of the organisation – business, social club, sports team – trust is the glue that binds leaders and their followers.

If you aspire to lead your family a good starting point is to look deep within yourself and take stock of the qualities you’ll need if you are to establish a mutual bond of trust between yourself as a leader and your family members.

Without trust, there is no leadership.

Dependability

Of the many behaviours and qualities, great leaders exhibit, key to building trust is the quality of dependability. Can those around you rely upon you to do what you said you would do, at the time you said you would do it, and of the required quality? 

It’s about walking the talk.

Following through matters in a world where so many things are competing for our time – phone calls, SMS messages, emails, instant messaging, and social media to name but a few. All demand our immediate attention.

Your reputation as a leader relies on following through.

Say-Do Ratio

A popular measure of your dependability is the Say-Do Ratio. A perfect score is 1. You have done everything you said you would do. A score higher than 1 says you’ve not done everything you said you would do. For example, you may have promised to deliver on a number of projects by the next family meeting, say five projects in total. Yet your report back at the family meeting shows only two projects have been completed. A say-Do Ratio of 2.5. Confidence in your leadership will be eroded quickly if your score remains elevated well above 1.

Paying attention to your Say-Do Ratio requires that you:

• Learn to say “No”. You can’t please all of the people all of the time. Prioritise the many requests you will have before committing.
• Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Overcommitting, while stemming from good intentions, may jeopardise prior commitments and undermine the credibility you are building as a leader. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
• Communicate your successes. Manage the expectations of those you lead. Delays, setbacks and the like are inevitable. Communicate with the family to realign their expectations.
• Be consistent. Inconsistency leads to uncertainty and stress in those that follow you. Consistency in following through on your promises positions you as reliable and dependable, essential qualities for a leader.

Being dependable requires self-disciple. Ask yourself the following questions and assess your dependability:

• Do I have a system of personal organisation to help me stay accountable and better organised?
• Do I set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely (SMART)?
• Do I have a system for prioritising my tasks and projects, and keeping track of what needs to be completed by what date?
• How do members of my family perceive my dependability?

How dependable are you?

Photo attribution Tembinkosi Sikupela on Unsplash