One of my personal core values is a strong commitment to fulfilling my promises. This could be simply stated as “If I say I will, then I will”.
Politics and Promises
During the election campaign, the recently elected federal government promised to bring 25,000 Syrian refuges to Canada by December 31st, 2015. Shortly following the establishment of the newly elected government this “promise” was adjusted to 10,000 by the end of 2015 with the balance to come in 2016.
And here we are on Jan 1st 2016 and a little less than 6000 refugees have arrived.
Whether an individual, politician or an organization a promise should only be made when there is a good chance of achieving the stated goal. Obviously there is always a risk this will not occur, hopefully due to some unknown factor or a change that was outside your control.
Where commitments begin
My own observation is for promises to be met the most important factor is the level of commitment by the person making the promise. They must believe keeping a promise is critical and putting aside any physical consequences of not doing what you say (for example, a fine) the key is a personal standard of behavior. That is the belief that the mantra “If I say I will, then I will” is all important and should always be adhered too.
Our current prime minister and his minions are pretty confident they won’t be turfed from office for not meeting the refugee promise and by the time of the next election it’s highly probably it will be forgotten and even if not will have little impact.
Interestingly another time sensitive promise is related to tax reduction and lowering the TFSA limit. Since the TFSA limit is effective on January 1st, bringing forward the legislation on Dec 15th is pretty lame, obviously it will not be passed before Jan 1st 2016.
If that had been my election promise I would have either qualified the change would not be in place by Jan 1st 2016 or immediately on election I would have ensured as leader the party worked diligently to have the legislation forward and passed by Dec 31st.
New Years Resolution
In general our society will benefit significantly from a larger percentage being committed to completing their promises (not just politicians. ) Why not take a personal step this new year and give it a try.