How Consistency Can Take You Over the Top

Let me start out by saying that I apologize for the inconsistency of posts (especially since the last post of almost a month ago!)  There have been some big changes in our household lately, one of which includes packing up ALL of our stuff and shoving it into two 10′x20′ storage units.  Sparing the gory details till later, let’s get this thing going. 

I hate to be the guy that beats a dead horse, but…  I would like to revisit that last Pac-10 basketball game.

To get some perspective of the game, I was sitting directly behind the bench of the team in question.  The thing that drove me crazy, was how often players were getting moved in and out of the game.  I felt bad for the guys because how in the world can you get in any kind of rhythm or consistency when you’re in the game for 1 or 2 minutes at a time?

Let me pose this question… How can anyone expect results from their team when there is inconsistency in their leadership?

The problem is that you can’t.  The last place that I worked was like this.  The leader of the company was so inconsistent, you didn’t know if you were coming or going.  It was like walking into the eye of a tornado every time you stepped into the office.  The “best part” of this is that the boss blamed EVERYONE ELSE for his temperament and inconsistency, which is a whole different post altogether.

There are two major problems here. 

1.  It is hard on your people.  Inconsistent behavior from you, will only make your people inconsistent.  Sure everyone has an off day and that is acceptable every once in a while.  We all perform best when we can get ourselves into the work “zone” and inconsistent behavior from a boss interrupts the rhythm of the day.

Situations like this drive up the cost of doing business because it kills productivity.  Another side effect can be the non-stop bitch sessions (which I have seen and unfortunately gotten sucked into from time to time) that ensue, which happen most often on company time. 

2.  You lose influence with your people.  Inconsistency displays panic, lack of faith in yourself or lack of faith in your vision.  Put yourself in the shoes of your team.  See the look in your eyes, the unsureness in your voice, the body language that shows your quiet desperation.  Would you want to follow someone like that?

Think back to the basketball game, there you are sitting on the bench, you’ve been in and out of the game several times already and here you are getting called back in.  In your mind, you’re not thinking about the game, it’s things like, “I’m just going to get yanked in 2 minutes anyway” or “We’re getting our asses kicked and coach has no idea what to do differently” 

Can you expect to get results from people whom you have lost positive influence with? 

When that starts to happen it is like business suicide because if the only consistent thing is your inconsistency, the effects are like a giant snowball from a kids cartoon.  Getting bigger and bigger with every revolution and the bigger it gets that faster it grows.  Your people transform from responders to reactors.

Being a great leader, business owner or parent/spouse (this has the same effect in our families as well) is hard.  If it was easy… you know the rest.  So what can we do to help make ourselves better.

Reading is the best thing.  Zig Ziglar said in his book “Over The Top” that the thing that determines how far we get in our business life (or any aspect as far as I’m concerned) isn’t the things we do at work, but it is the things we do outside of work.  There is no better way to get better than to read. It doesn’t matter if it’s books, magazines, trade journals or even blogs.  Remember that all the reading in the world will not do you a lick of good unless you take some sort of action with your new education.

Next best thing is to keep a journal.  Write down the things that work well and the things that don’t.  This is a chance to write lessons to yourself because you should also go back and periodically read your journal. 

Get with like-minded peers and form a mastermind group.  In his study of the most influential and wealthy people, Napoleon Hill credited the participation in a mastermind group as one of the major factors in determining the success of people like Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie.  Our country was founded by a mastermind group, all the names of those men are on the Declaration of Independence.

To wrap it all up here, consistency in your actions, the way you treat people and the way you run your business and life are going to help you progress (further and faster.)  It will help you gain and keep your influence with people and from a business standpoint it will help keep the cost of doing business down.  That’s what we are looking for isn’t it? A way to reduce operating costs and get people invested in the vision we have for our business.

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