Enterprise Design Patterns | Behavioural Patterns
#18: Walking Your Talk
“Well done is better than well said.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Related Patterns:
#13: Nurtured Trust; #17: Tangible Presence
You want your co-creators to feel they can predict your actions and trust your promises.
In this context:
While trying to connect many different co-creators and disciplines it is easy to lose track of what and when you promised to deliver. Since your co-creators can’t see why your schedule or creations planned have changed, they will see this as a lack of reliability. Non-reliability leads to a decline of trust.
Therefore:
You stay in frequent contact with your co-creators about your progress and possible changes in what you are doing and planning. You take care to:
- Be as clear as possible about the way your work is evolving;
- Let them know as soon as you can when things change because of progressive insight, instead of causing surprises later;
- Make sure that whatever you promise to do, deliver, or report on, you actually deliver on that promise;
- Under-promise and over-deliver by being conservative in your estimates. You don’t let your own optimism and enthusiasm lead to you make promises you can’t keep.
Consequently:
Because you do as you promise, keep your co-creators informed and warn them well in advance in case anything changes, your co-creators are confident they can predict your actions. They feel you are reliable and don’t spring any unpleasant surprises on them. This makes it easier for them to collaborate with you.