Broken promises in politics and business

How many times do you pick up the newspaper, or read a headline or article berating government or business leaders for broken promises?

I can tell you, because I track these very headlines, that if not every day, it’s at least a few times a week. Why?

There are three ‘why?’ questions here:

1. Why does it keep being reported?
2. Why do political and business leaders keep breaking their promises?
3. Why does it upset us so much?

Let’s explore:

        1.  Why does it keep being reported?

One of the things that the media has been renowned for is holding political and business leaders accountable. If they can smell a rat, they’ll blow the lid on it. And let’s face it, someone has to keep them accountable, right?

What is sad, and is the greatest issue that we face globally, is that these leaders do not hold themselves accountable. Until they do, until they begin to keep the promises they make, or at least manage our expectations when promises made cannot be delivered, then we’ll keep seeing these same headlines.

        2.  Why do political and business leaders keep breaking their

             promises?

The issue here is that they, consciously or subconsciously, know that if they make the right promises, people will continue to vote for them, listen to them, be drawn to them. This is one of the core things I teach in the model for trust – ENPs. As long as you make promises that match people’s expectations and needs, they are drawn to you.

However, promises are easily made, and equally easily forgotten. Time, resources and other constraints get in the way of keeping what may well have been valid and intentional promises.

What leaders need to do is spend a whole lot more time really thinking through what promises can be made, realistically, and what might get in the way of those promises not being met. Then they need to assess the likelihood and consequences of not meeting those promises.

A breakdown of trust is the biggest risk leaders face, and one that is poorly managed, if it’s recognised at all – and in my experience, most leaders are clueless to the power and fragile nature of trust.

        3. Why does it upset us so much?

What leaders fail to realise or appreciate is exactly how the trust model plays out. That, once people have placed their trust in those promises, they are then everything from mildly disappointed through to violently angry when those promises are then not kept – the degree to which they protest and complain and react depends completely on how important those promises were to them, and how much they expected and needed them to be fulfilled.

As my son, Lachlan told me one day ‘Sorry isn’t good enough, Mum.’ Once trust has been placed in promises made, and they are expected and needed by the people, then watch out when that trust falls and breaks.

Broken trust is painful, and leaders need to become acutely aware of how they can harness the power of trust, and how they need to avoid it’s breakdown, and keeping promises is a great place to start.