If you are a leader of a group - meaning that you have people in your charge - you may be making decisions for them. Are you committing them to the right things? How do you know?

Have a clear vision of the outcomes you are trying to create.

Then, before you ever make a commitment, ask yourself:

Prompt: Does the commitment I will make on behalf of my team help them do and build what the vision is for?

The answer can only be yes or no.

If the answer is maybe, then the answer is actually no.

If you answer yes, you're committing your team to the right thing. Congratulations. They will be bought in and love their work realizing a vision.

If your answer is no, don't commit - stop. Regroup with your leaders and find another way.

Remember sonder?

Your team, students, and children are telling themselves stories about themselves that's as beautiful and as complex as the one you tell yourself about you.

In that story, they want to be the heroes. In their story, they have agency to bring all of their skills to bear to make the big things happen - the climatic cinematic ending we all want for ourselves.

That simple prompt above helps you determine if you're giving a cinematic ending to those you seek to serve. And if you're a leader, in addition to your customer, you also serve your team.