Some years ago, my parents asked a man to paint their room. And he did. But instead of moving all the furniture to the centre of the room, he left them in place and painted around them.

I still marvel at the mind capable of even contemplating such a shortcut, but I appreciate the kindness of my parents even more. They never had the heart to stop giving this guy work.

But I tell that story because it demonstrates a critical component to the commitments people make to us.

To what standard of care is a job done?

Your son’s idea of a clean room, is not yours, and the man that painted my parent’s room had a much lower standard of care than my parents had in mind.

Not only did he not completely paint the walls, but he also smudged paint on the edges of the furniture he painted around.

As an old boss used to say, “good enough for government work,” but it certainly was not good work.

The lesson is to never assume new people on your team understand the standard of care to which you require things done.

Some standards of care are general e.g. always leave a space cleaner than when you found it, or always clean up along the margins of where you work, but some might be peculiar to you e.g. how you like your coffee, or how you like to receive updates.

Just never assume people know your standard of care, or the conditions of satisfaction for a particular commitment to be judged complete.

Always make sure people understand your standard of care before you accept their promises.

By the way, I don’t think my parents ever realized the shortcut their charitable hire took in painting their room. I only discovered it years later, when trying to rearrange the furniture.

I laughed.