The final step to clean up a broken agreement after you have made amends is to recommit to the relationship.

How do you do that? By telling the other party (who has received your acknowledgment, apology, and amends) exactly how you intend to treat the relationship in the future.

What does this do? If you are sincere in making this recommitment, you will reduce the likelihood of repeating the past mistake or mistakes similar to them.

Recommitment also allows your partners to restore their faith in you.

Remember that the desired end result of the cleanup process is to continue to build trust.

When you voluntarily recommit to a relationship, you create a new, fresh start. It is a new moment in time, a new day, a new chance.

Make sure there isn’t any residual bad feelings so that your new dealings with the individual can proceed with trust regardless of the past.

I’d also recommend that your recommitment be out loud.

When a recommitment is stated out loud, the new standard for your own behavior becomes public. You declare a willingness to be held to that standard by other people.

Such public commitment is irrevocable. An expectation of responsibility is imbedded in your public statement, and everybody knows that you will make every effort to keep that commitment.

So recommit to your partners and signal that you have “raised the bar” for how you intend to treat the relationship from now on.

Get Started With This 5-Minute Practice Tip

Focus for 10 minutes on a mistake you never want to make again. Have you acknowledged your mistake, apologized, and attempted to make amends?

Wonderful, then finish the cleanup and tell the other party aloud what you will do to care for the relationship in the future.

If you want to make your new attitude stick, tell the other party in the presence of other teammates. This simple step will guarantee that you won’t make the same mistake again.