Consistency is one of those traits that is coveted by business journals and business leadership as possibly the most important ingredient in leaders. For a simple reason: Consistency — whether good or bad, positive or negative — provides the business, its employees, and stakeholders with a known quantity.
Consistency
Roy T. Bennett
is the true foundation of trust.
Either keep your promises or do not make them.
Across literature and advise by professionals there are a few key reasons why and how consistency is seen as essentials for ‘leadership personalities’ (Source):
- Consistency builds trust
A word needs to be trusted. Walking the talk, do as as has been said. Keep to promises. - Consistency = Predictability
What is predictable creates less uncertainty and therefore less stress. That again allows everyone around to prepare for what will happen and ‘be ready’. - Consistency creates personal responsibility
It’s two sides of one same medal. Managers expect their staff to deliver on agreed goals. That’s the one side. But in order for the staff to succeed in their task, they need adequate support, and access to an ear if they require so.
Regular check-in routines with teams or individuals are important for that. Not last-minute ‘I have a few minutes, what’s happening’ conversations; but once every fortnight time spent on ‘where are we, what is done, what hurdles are there, and how can I help’ - Consistency builds personal brand
It builds a track record of delivering on promises, supporting staff, making things happen.
Part of courage is simple consistency.
Peggy Noonan
- Consistency takes dedication
Not shying away from conflict in order to keep steering on the chosen course for good reason; fulfilling promises even if it is no longer easy or convenient; talking straight to people’s face even if it is hard to do; taking tough decisions and standing up for them – and not letting others do the dirty job of a messenger.
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because
Maya Angelou
without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
The missing ingredient: The boring stuff
All the above is correct. And all the above is necessary.
But equally, all the above is irrelevant, and incomplete without THE one ingredient:
Consistency is about all the many, many small, unglamorous, boring little things. About the monotonous everyday stuff, executed every day, day in day out, year in year out:
Being punctual for meetings; turning up where you promised to turn up; saying thank you to those that make your life easier – and meaning it; do your own share of ‘maintenance’ where it is no rocket science and done in a breath – be it organising some toilet paper in the team rest room if it ran out or just getting a stack of copy paper; noticing when your PA has a bad migraine and yet came into work – and thanking her by keeping noise low, and last-minute requests at bay, cleaning your own coffee cup.
Perfection of effort is not required, by the way.
Holly Mosier
It is the consistency of attempting to work these tools that brings the progress.
It’s like anything else. If I want to tone muscle, lifting a ten-pound weight a few times every day will move me toward my goal much quicker than hoisting a fifty-pound barbell once a week.
Yes, it really is true: “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Just try a little, every day. You’ll see.
Consistency in leadership is not much different from consistency in a relationship. Just like a relationship, leadership is accumulation of small little things that are done over and over again.
The ‘big’ stuff might matter because it is well visible, often publicised, and even more frequently talked about.
But it is the small stuff that builds teams, atmospheres, respect, trust.
The small stuff is all about getting up, being there, pitching in, and being a valuable member of your team.
Paying attention – not just to detail, but to ‘the world of others’.
Not just this week, or last. But every day, every single week, across the whole year, for the entirety of your tenure as a professional.
It’s not what we do once in a while
Anthony Robbins
that shapes our lives.
It’s what we do consistently.
Only that way an individual really becomes a ‘primus inter pares’: first among equals.
And no matter what our pay scale, house size or family background:
Fundamentally we’re all equals to start out with.
Video: Simon Sinek: “Why consistency matters in Relations and Leadership”
