Commitment-based Managementâ„¢
(CbM) works on the basis that a successful organisation is
driven by the quality and fulfilment of the explicit
network of commitments made between people in that
organisation and their customers.

Developed initially by Dr. Fernando Flores following extensive
research in association with Stanford University and the University
of California at Berkeley, VISION has extended the research and
development with The Kellogg School of Management, London School of
Business, MIT, and client engagements. CbM provides a
distinctive methodology for producing new and
sustainable levels of business
performance.
More on the early essays by Fernando Flores can be found
here:
http://www.conversationsforaction.com
It is used by numerous Global 1,000, mid-sized and small
bio or high tech companies. For CbM practitioners, organisations
succeed when customer or colleague requests are met by clear
commitments and promises by others to deliver on those requests.
The challenge is to ensure that the requests and promises are
explicit and that the fulfilment is rigorous.
VISION uses itsCommitment Loop (see
below) to map the steps from request origination to fulfilment in
order to understand, challenge and improve the exact commitments
and promises being made at each step. CbM focuses on ensuring that
all parties are making the right promises, that those promises are
clearly understood and that each party identifies how it will
deliver on them. This creates an environment of trust and
coordination within the organisation that allows it to achieve
transformational business results.
What does VISION CbM
change?
- Commitment-based designers consistently align the commitments
within an organisation to its underlying promises to its
customers
- Designers develop new organisational practices for keeping and
monitoring commitments that constantly challenge all stakeholders
to keep their promises to each other and the customers
- Managers and employees undergo personal transformations as they
understand the power and importance of meeting their detailed
promises. CbM creates an entrepreneurial culture where individuals
take more responsibility for the promises they make to each other,
to customers and organise themselves and others to deliver on these
promises.
Overall, CbM creates a culture where all stakeholders embody the
corporate mission while accepting individual accountability for
extraordinary results. Where clear promises have been publically
made, there is no hiding from the responsibility for delivering on
them.
VISION regularly meets organisations that believe that they
already manage commitments to each other and to their customers. In
over 20 years of practicing CbM our experience, however, is that
few create such a culture around commitments and promises that
delivers individual accountability to build real trust and
coordination throughout the organisation.
Check out our five core
services that all use CbM:
1. Breakthrough Customer
Service
2. Call Centre
Excellence
3. Organisational Cultural
Change
4. Leadership
Transformation
5. Efficient Capital Projects
(ECP)