If compliance in the workplace were good enough, then perhaps Wyatt Earp was right. “Nothing focuses the mind like a hanging in the morning.”

Yet, compliance is only the first stepping stone toward an attitude of commitment. If compliance is all we get, then managers can expect directives to be short-lived and require the omnipresence of the manager, either in person or by remote control cameras, color, of course.

We can talk all warm and fuzzy about commitment and compliance, but it boils down to these two things, time frame and proximity of the manager. If all I need is short term compliance and I plan to be there to drive the bus, compliance works just fine. If I need everyone to stay an extra half hour to help me pack some boxes, then I am ordering pizza to make sure I get the compliance I need to get my boxes packed.

However, if I need long term energy to be sustained on a project when I am not there, out of town on a sales call, then, as a manager, I need commitment. Compliance and pizza don’t work. Commitment behind an initiative lasts longer and requires less of my presence as a manager. -TF