Breakdowns Don't Have to Break You: Here’s How to Keep Your Long List of Commitments at Work

Have you ever found yourself determined to commit to a new goal or project that could elevate both you and your organization's profile at work, only to have unforeseen circumstances and competing priorities crop up at every turn? Trust me, you're not alone. As a communication coach, I've seen it happen time and time again.

In fact, I recently worked with a c-suite client who excelled in external and internal communications but struggled to make time to practice and prepare due to a jam-packed schedule and constant crises at work. Sound familiar?

The reality is, in today's "always on" workplace, we're often programmed to prioritize putting out fires over proactive planning, development, and coaching. But sacrificing commitments can be detrimental to our goals, our teams, and ourselves.

So, how can we approach commitment from an empowered place in the face of breakdowns?

Here are four steps to having an "Empowered vs. Disempowered" breakdown to keep your commitments:

Step 1: Acknowledge the breakdown. 

Instead of justifying why the breakdown happened, simply acknowledge that it did.

Step 2: Determine the workability

Sort out what worked vs. what didn't work. An empowered stance includes looking at the totality of what occurred in the situation.

Step 3: Affirm only the commitment itself

Affirm the positive of who you want to be inside of the commitment. (i.e. “I am practiced and well prepared for all of my speaking and external-facing engagements. I am good at being a visible leader inside and outside my company.”)

Step 4: Responsibly Recommit. 

Even if you must renegotiate in some way, let your commitment, not your story about it, guide your approach to getting the desired result.

The bottom line is, expect to have breakdowns inside of your commitments. In fact, the bigger the commitment, the bigger the breakdown. But by using these steps, you can empower yourself and your team through them.

So, here's your challenge this week:

Notice everywhere you are making commitments and not sticking to them and use the strategy above to empower yourself and your team through them. 

And don't forget to let me know how it goes!

Take care, and let's commit to being our best selves.