Why You Should Under-Promise and Over-Deliver

I apologize that I can't find the article anywhere online, but the November 19th, 2007 edition of BusinessWeek includes a story titled, "Mickey's Management Mojo" that I think is fitting for ThePoorMansMBA.com.

Essentially, the article talked about how Disney Land has a habit of under-promising and over-delivering. For example, they might have a sign that says the wait to ride Space Mountain is 45 minutes long. But when customers get on the ride after only 25 minutes, they're really happy. If the sign said 25 minutes and it took 40 would they be happy? What about if it said 25 minutes and it took 25 minutes?

Even though this is "one of the oldest tricks in the book," it's still an effective management technique. This often requires negotiation skills too. Try it at work on some simple action item that someone's given you. If they haven't already given you a due date, or even if they have, ask if you can have more time to work on it. Do this up front though, not the day before it's due because that's simply rude. Usually, they'll be ok with a longer timeframe if you give them enough notice.

But then surprise them by completing the task by the original due date. And if you can, go the extra mile on the task to really impress them. This will leave both of you feeling great about the work accomplished. It may seem somewhat manipulative to under promise and over deliver but having a buffer like this for due dates or the scope of a project can be really handy when you get some other last minute requests.

On the contrary, nobody likes the type of people who over-promise and can't deliver. Even those who are able to over-promise and still deliver set themselves up for problems and stress by spreading themselves too thin. Over-promising and under-delivering is a recipe for frustration, disappointment, and a bad reputation. But by effectively setting expectations you can turn that same amount of work into over-delivery simply by under-promising from the start.