“Leadership can’t be fabricated. If it is fabricated and rehearsed, you can’t fool the guys in the locker room. So when you talk about leadership, it comes with performance. Leadership comes with consistency.” — Junior Seau

One of the most overlooked, yet imperative, leadership behaviors is consistency. Lack of consistency leads to unmet expectations, confusion, and lack of commitment. If you aren’t consistent, you can’t lead effectively. Here’s why:

Expectations

No one can hit a target that is constantly moving. What do you expect from your people? They need to know what your expectations are and they need to feel confident that those expectations will not change unexpectedly. Don’t set your employees up for failure by constantly changing your expectations.

Direction

Your organization will never get anywhere if you lead in a ‘one step forward and two steps back’ fashion. You need to lead your people in a consistent direction. Sure, sometimes that direction will need to change but, it should not be changing on a daily basis. Don’t confuse your employees and zero out any progress you have made by constantly changing direction.

The ‘Why’

If you want a committed workforce, you have to give them a ‘why’ they can believe in. Your true ‘why’ should rarely, if ever, change. Don’t lose employee buy-in by being wish-washy about your ‘why’. Instead, inspire them to a higher level of performance by making their work meaningful.

Every Day Consistency

Leadership is made up of every day behaviors that are consistent. In order to feel secure in their positions, they need to know what your expectations of them are. In order to make progress, everyone needs to be moving in the same, consistent direction. Employees will go above and beyond for a ‘why’ they can believe in. As Junior Seau said, “Leadership comes with consistency.” Learn to recognize the importance of every day consistency in your leadership.

 

© 2017 Elizabeth Stincelli

 

Liz Stincelli is passionate about recognizing and inspiring the leader in each of us. She is the Founder of Stincelli Advisors where she focuses on helping organizations change attitudes, change communication dynamics, improve collaboration and problem-solving, engage employees, and strengthen organizational culture. Liz holds a Doctor of Management degree with an emphasis on organizational leadership.

Learn more about Liz by visiting her website, stincelliadvisors.com and connect with her on Twitter @infinitestin, Google+, and LinkedIn. You can contact her by email at stincelliadvisors@gmail.com.