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The Honorable Way to Break a Promise

 

Guest articles > The Honorable Way to Break a Promise

 

by: Deb Calvert

 

Growing up, the lesson was that we should never, ever break a promise. As adults, we hear messages that affirm that lesson – “You’re only as good as your word,” or “DWYSYWD” (Do What You Say You Will Do). Of course, these are very good principles to abide by. But what about those times when it simply is not possible to keep a promise you’ve made? These absolute moral imperatives don’t give us any latitude, nor any instruction about how to handle situations when a promise made will not be a promise kept.

It goes without saying that these times, when promises will be broken, should be the rare exception to the promise rules. But it would be naïve to say that every promise can be kept. So when those times come, we should be prepared to break our promises honorably. The objective would be to break the promise without breaking the relationship and without damaging our own credibility. Can it be done? How?

We first broached this subject as a sub-point in a blog series about behaving as a leader. That sub-point said that leaders sometimes need to break promises. After fielding several indignant responses and incredulous questions, we thought we should clarify that we are not advocating frivolous promise-breaking nor giving license to those who never intended to keep their word in the first place. This blog post is meant to explain how to break a promise in those times when there is absolutely, positively no other choice.

Making a promise is, indeed, a profound act. Within each promise is encapsulated the possibility of hope fulfilled and the vulnerability of broken trust. We must all take our promises seriously. But no one should be the prisoner of an impossible promise.

Circumstances change. Life alters our paths, and we sometimes are left with no other choice but to re-align our promises to match the current reality. It’s not a lack of integrity, in those situations, to break a promise. Instead, integrity is measured by what you say and do when you have no choice left and must break a promise.

In order to break a promise honorably, you need to be sure to do the following:

  • Acknowledge that you are breaking a promise. This isn’t something you can mask or hide. Don’t wait too long to communicate about this either. If people notice you backing away gradually or denying that you will break the promise, they will remember those actions and later when you do break the promise they will realize that you’ve been holding out for a while.
  • Look for a way to honor the original intent of the promise even though you are unable to follow through on the original plan.
  • Understand that the people you made the promise will be disappointed, hurt or angry. They were counting on something and must make an adjustment. You can’t expect them to immediately accept this breaking and move forward.

If you make promise-breaking a very rare event, chances are that others will give you a little grace when you do need to break a promise you’ve made. When you do break a promise, doing it in the honorable ways listed here will also help others to see that you accept responsibility. Breaking a promise, in the right way, may even enhance trust and build your relationships.

 


Deb Calvert is President, People First Productivity Solutions

www.peoplefirstps.com

408-779-0195


Contributor: Deb Calvert

Published here on: 01-Sep-13

Classification: Development

Website: www.peoplefirstps.com

 

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Site Menu

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Main sections: | Disciplines | Techniques | Principles | Explanations | Theories |

Other sections: | Blog! | Quotes | Guest articles | Analysis | Books | Help |

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Please help and share:

 

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Disciplines

* Argument
* Brand management
* Change Management
* Coaching
* Communication
* Counseling
* Game Design
* Human Resources
* Job-finding
* Leadership
* Marketing
* Politics
* Propaganda
* Rhetoric
* Negotiation
* Psychoanalysis
* Sales
* Sociology
* Storytelling
* Teaching
* Warfare
* Workplace design

Techniques

* Assertiveness
* Body language
* Change techniques
* Closing techniques
* Conversation
* Confidence tricks
* Conversion
* Creative techniques
* General techniques
* Happiness
* Hypnotism
* Interrogation
* Language
* Listening
* Negotiation tactics
* Objection handling
* Propaganda
* Problem-solving
* Public speaking
* Questioning
* Using repetition
* Resisting persuasion
* Self-development
* Sequential requests
* Storytelling
* Stress Management
* Tipping
* Using humor
* Willpower

Principles

+ Principles

Explanations

* Behaviors
* Beliefs
* Brain stuff
* Conditioning
* Coping Mechanisms
* Critical Theory
* Culture
* Decisions
* Emotions
* Evolution
* Gender
* Games
* Groups
* Habit
* Identity
* Learning
* Meaning
* Memory
* Motivation
* Models
* Needs
* Personality
* Power
* Preferences
* Research
* Relationships
* SIFT Model
* Social Research
* Stress
* Trust
* Values

Theories

* Alphabetic list
* Theory types

And

About
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Blog!
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Changes
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