As I have been reflecting on my year – a mix of good and bad – one theme has popped up repeatedly: Consistency. It’s been on both sides of the ledger for me this year. I have been attempted to be consistent professionally in how approach my role(s) largely as a pragmatic builder, in how I attempt to treat those around me, my zeal for learning, my effort, and my desire to help others develop. I’ve been far less consistent personally in working out, pursuing new outlets for me contribute, changing my personal circumstances, and prioritizing my health. I mention that just to make clear that this isn’t some victory lap of me patting myself on my back about how I am consistently awesome…Im not! But the fact that consistency was such a theme of my reflection lead me to think about why it is so important in all facets of our life.
First, consistency will absolutely build trust with people in every facet of your life. If we focus our thinking on our professional lives, the interpersonal benefits of consistency are easy to spot – often by thinking of the opposite. Does anyone want to be the first person to gauge how the mercurial guy down the row is feeling today? Happy office guy? Pissed office guy? It’s a crapshoot! That right away makes that person less likely to be someone that people openly interact with…which limits the amount of trust that can be built.
Beyond that, think back to some of the bosses you’ve had. Keep thinking. Now picture one of them that you really had a hard time reading and predicting their reaction to your news. You dreaded breaking news, I bet. Even good news. You see, that person’s reaction being unpredictable and inconsistent creates trepidation which inhibits trust. Interestingly, it doesn’t have to be that their reaction is always good or bad…it’s more that it needs to be consistent so people have the ability to prepare themselves for the reaction and thus have the conversation which allows trust to be built.
Another final but more basic level of consistency that is necessary to build trust: availability. Again, think of the bosses you’ve had. Think about one that you had a hard time getting in touch with regularly. Slow to reply to messages, consistently moving meetings/one on ones/touchpoints. Often multitasking (which is code for focusing on anything but you in a conversation). They may have been physically available but their focus was rarely available. Always busy without the ability to regularly make time for you. Did that make you want to open up? Share concerns? Share personal information? Of course not. You didn’t know if you had their attention when you finally did chat or if it was worth it to go into any depth as they may not stay focused or interested long enough to take it in. An absolute trust killer.
I note all 3 of these things because I have been all three of these leaders who lacked consistency in mood, in reaction, and in attention…and I could see the impact it had on my teams. Am I “fixed” now? Nope. But I am aware of the challenge and try to be as consistent as I can…calling out when I am going to be less predictable than Id like.
Second, consistency beats perfection 100% of the time. This insight came to me from a book I read recently. The author was doing a traveling presentation within his company to outline his new vision for the organization. As leaders, we’ve all done this – maybe not travelling but pitching our team’s vision to the team and then to other stakeholders. Each time he gave the presentation, he had the urge to tweak it based on how the audience reacted. Sometimes it was to change a word or a phrase. Sometimes the order. And so on. The net result, very few people saw and heard the same message. In his quest to deliver the perfect message, he’d muddled it for the masses.
Consistency in this area really is a sign of discipline – and that discipline will lead to clarity and progress, which is far more critical than perfection. A mission that can be understood and executed rallying the team now will always trump a perfect plan 3 years from now when we get it completely ironed out. Perfection is the last bit of juice in the orange that is just not worth the effort to squeeze.
Third, consistency creates momentum. While Ive hammered on professional examples so far, I am going to give an obvious pair of examples of consistency creating momentum that are often paired together: diet and exercise. In both cases, the first bit of time is the hardest – changing your diet to be more healthy and getting into a regular exercise routine. But we all know what happens once both of those things happen – we start to see results (weight loss, exercise gains) and that starts the virtuous cycle/flywheel of not only sticking with the plan but often improving or upping it. Literally, the consistency through the change cycle is often all that’s needed to drive momentum towards initial goals and often beyond because of the virtuous cycle of consistent effort leading to consistent results. The same applies professionally…think about learning a new skill or heck, just showing up day in and day out and always getting the job done. The more you do it, the more likely you are to keep doing it. That, my friends, is momentum.
When you step back and see that the (not so simple) act of being consistent in your approach to others and your self discipline you will relatively quickly see benefits in developing trust with others, improved clarity and progress in tasks, and increased momentum in the areas that you are consistent. You’ll be able to create virtuous cycles in your life that will propel you forward…all by simply continuing to put one foot in front of the other and continuing to march in a repeatable, measurable way.
View from the Middle 