Strategies to Help Fulfil Commitments – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1024

Strategies to Help Fulfil Commitments – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1024

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1023 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing our contributions here.

Credit: Binti Malu

Credit: Michael Burrows

Credit: Mikhail Nilov

Preamble

Recently, I read an article by Michael Blanding in Harvard Business Working Knowledge which led me to study which inspired this blogpost. The findings of study, or rather set of studies’ have been reported by the researchers Ariella Kristal and Julian Zlatev. The report is titled ‘Going beyond the ‘Self’ in Self Control: Interpersonal Consequences of Commitment Strategy Use’. It raises some very important points, just a few of which I shall share. Being copyrighted, I shall not reproduce from the study but shall take the primary idea and present in my own words.

Commitment

The dictionary defines commitment as an act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself to do something. It may also be called a promise. We use this term day in and day out without even realizing the weight it carries. 

Commitments are both types: with own self, to do, like doing exercise, or not to do, like not to smoke; and it is with others which we do at job, like committing to achieve certain targets, or not to do, like in some pharma companies salespeople were asked to commit they would not do cross border sales. 

The reference study is focused on commitment with self, and we shall see their findings about it. I would like to carry the same concept to the professional and personal commitments done with others.

John Wooden, the respected college basketball coach said, “It isn’t what you do, but how you do it”. This adage is mostly forgotten in corporate sector which is always hellbent upon ‘doing’ even if most dubious tactics are used for it. 

Commitment with Self

Marshmallow experiment is a famous technique in which children are seated, and a small quantity of marshmallow is placed before them. They are told they if they do not eat the small quantity in front of them, they would get a larger quantity after the experiment. However, if they choose to eat the small quantity now, they will not get more at the end of the interview. There is a fight between contradictory impulses of instant and late gratification. The force which is at play supposedly is ‘Will Power’, which is often referred to when heroic deeds are propagated. The speakers exhort people to use their will power to do this, not do that, achieve this, and so on.

The reference study compares that when will power alone is used, and when will power is augmented and supported with a parallel commitment strategy, the results are different. Let us take the example of a person whom doctor has advised to reduce weight because of certain medical condition. The person must take multipronged approach; take restricted diet, start exercise, and change the entire lifestyle. He is motivated to use his will power to do all this, which he will surely use. This is Will Power in action alone. Now consider that he engages a dietitian to not just advise on restricted diet but also prepare and supply, his Will Power will be greatly supported. Similarly, if he joins a group who do regular exercise at a gym, he will come under peer pressure to do it regularly. Same holds true for other situations like this. These are what they called ‘Commitment Strategies’; support systems to improve achievement. The results improve substantially when Will Power is supported by other Commitment Strategies. This is an oversimplified conclusion of the study, I must say. The study goes into multiple details of psychic phenomena and emotional regulation mechanisms, but we can do without these. If interested, please follow the link at the end.

Commitment with Others

I shall now take the liberty of applying the same principle to commitment with others, however, the nature of commitment strategies here will be different. 

Dwelling upon working in pharma companies, it is a common practice that at the sales conferences and new product launches, lot of energy is generated through announcements of prizes and promotions, sloganeering, music, dancing, and then at the end everyone stands up and commits to achieve the new targets. There is more sloganeering, more music, and more dancing. The scene is no less than that of a rowdy nightclub late night, just before closing.

The question is, do all of them achieve? Do all of them even reach near achievement? Sadly, the answers are NO. This happens in all organizations but even then this drill is repeated in all companies and on all such occasions. 

Now let us think what commitment strategies can be employed to ensure/ improve outcomes.

My first proposal is to prioritize team goals/ achievements over individual achievement. This will raise team spirit, enhance morale, instill support, and build peer pressure to do more and achieve together. It is already established that the entire focus on individual achievement has greatly sabotaged team spirit. The team members are encouraged to worry about their own achievement only. Even the managers hide behind their high achievers and shun low achievers, and no one asks them they were supposed to bring team achievement, not fractured achievements of few.

My second proposal is to build small checkpoints at short intervals to monitor and motivate achievement. It is a norm that the managers keep asking verbally during the month and receive assurances throughout and till the last but one day of the month that all was on target. At the end of the last day, it transpires that the target could not be achieved due to so and so and so reasons. If monitoring is done in more concrete terms, with analysis, then measures can be taken proactively, and no one needs to find excuses at the end of the month.

My last proposal is to focus not on just ‘what is done, but how it is done’. This is probably the commonest and most damaging mistake that managers are committing. The entire emphasis has shifted on the end result. Due to this, the means or the way things are done are getting ignored completely. The quality of work has deteriorated, and the use of malpractices has risen to dangerous levels.

Sum Up

Commitments are an integral part of our lives. We commit at various levels, for various reasons, and on various occasions, throughout our lives. It is important to understand the process and use appropriate tools to fulfill commitments.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, however, it happens unintentionally, I offer my sincere regrets.

Reference:

https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/22-033_7cbfe4de-fedc-48db-8971-2c8db04e9264.pdf