“It will be finished by September 30…” promised the contractor working on our swimming pool. Not having confidence in his words, I asked: “Are you sure?”, which brought about the response, “Yes, no problem, Sir.”

I knew he was wrong and it made me wonder why do employees promise something when they know they will not deliver on their word.

My yard looked like a construction zone with nearly every part of the project incomplete. I was curious how they could even get the rubbish removed by the deadline, let alone finish the tile work in the pool.

So, I dropped into deep inductive questioning and logical reasoning, asking what is the next step. When he got to the end of the questions, I rather thought I was talking to a startled child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. He suddenly realised that it would be impossible to finish on time and that I knew it.

But yet, he continued to insist, it will be done by September 30. Is it that hard to admit reality, tell the truth about performance? It is in no parties’ – boss, employees or contractor, customer - best interest to stick to a promise that will be broken. It just sets you up for further failure and character assassination.

While I want to vent to the world and “name and shame” this swimming pool contractor, I will refrain and stick to the leadership point. This instance is illustrative of what, unfortunately, happens inside too many companies – promises made yet not met.

Where I come from this is a lie - people rely on the words of others as being complete and accurate. So what is it that drives this behavior?

It’s a pretty simple concept, the environment of growing up and previous work experiences conditions employee behaviour. Once you’re conditioned, you replicate that behaviour (sadly even when it is negative).

If you have been conditioned to never bare bad news, then you insist the swimming pool will be ready on September 30, even though you know it won’t be. You could call this face-saving, but it results in “face-caving”.

This type of employee thinks he is doing right by telling the boss, co-worker, customer what they want to hear — he is conditioned to think he is acting in the best interest of others. But in reality, we know this is not a service, it is a disservice.

Rationally knowing this does not overcome the conditioned behaviour. Admitting you can’t deliver against a promise made requires courage to speak up, openly and honestly. It sounds easy — just speak up. Only it’s not quite so easy. Courage is the ability to confront a fear.

When an employee is confronted with having to admit, “No, Sir, it will not happen on time”, the conversation is emotional and not a rational one. It is emotional because the employee has to confront the fear of what will happen now.

They were having an emotional one - “What will happen if I admit we will be late? Will there be a penalty?”, etc, etc.

Attempting to have a rational conversation like I was — to understand what was needed to deliver my pool on time (or at the very least, when it would be handed over) — compounds your frustration.

It is one thing to understand why an employee would tell his boss, co-worker, even customer one thing, and yet not deliver on the promises. But leadership prowess comes from knowing what to do.

Don’t make the mistake I did with my swimming pool contractor and wait until it is too late to monitor closely to ensure success. For two months, I accepted, but didn’t believe they could deliver on time. Then, in the final week, I started inspecting every detail and realised I waited too long.

Here comes the unpopular part of what I am encouraging you to do. Great leaders proactively monitor, not micro-manage, with a focus on helping others succeed.

It is a waste of time to wait until the deadline is missed to monitor. According to the work plan, your role is to make sure every detail is achieved accordingly. This requires constant monitoring.

You can remove broken performance promises from your life by proactively monitoring in a way that ensures your employees can, and will, succeed.

The writer is a leadership adviser and author of 10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East and other writings. Follow him on Twitter: @tommyweir.