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Being Consistent and predictable: One of the most important leadership characteristics

Guest post by: John Cameron

Article Overview: Whatever management or leadership training you take, whether it is a management workshop, a leadership webinar or books on management or supervision, you must own how important predictability is for a leader and practice st to be as consistent as you can possibly be. There are three main reasons. First, we live in unpredictable and uncertain times. When people go to work they want as much certainty as they can get. Second, leaders must be disciplined and if you can’t control your own behavior and attitude, how can you expect the people that follow you to control theirs? Third, and the reason that will probably cause you to make a change if you are not currently consistent, being inconsistent wastes your employees valuable time. They spend time worry about which way you are going to jump and this is time they could be working.

Being Consistent and predictable: One of the most important leadership characteristics

One of the most important things a leader can do is to lead by example. One of the most important and overlooked characteristics a good leader must have is consistency or predictability. Whatever management or leadership training you take, whether it is a management workshop, a leadership webinar or a books on management or supervision, you must own how important consistency and predictability is in a leader and practice steps to be as consistent as you can possibly be.

Why? There are three main reasons. First, we live in unpredictable and uncertain times. When people go to work they want as much certainty as they can get. Second, leaders must be disciplined and if you can’t control your own behavior and attitude, how can you expect the people that follow you to control theirs? Third, and the reason that will probably cause you to make a change if you are not currently consistent, being inconsistent wastes your employees valuable time. They spend time worry about which way you are going to jump and this is time they could be doing their work.

First, Do any of you doubt that we live in uncertain times? A housing bubble crashes, the stock market gyrates, unemployment goes from 4% to a real 20% in many places, inflation takes place and revolution rocks countries in the middle east.

People worry that they are going to lose their jobs, or have hours cut or their plant or office moved. If we can have work be as consistent and predictable as possible then they appreciate it more.

Second, how many of you know someone whose mood, and behavior, varies based on the fight they had with their husband or girlfriend, their blood sugar, the demands placed on them at work, their blood sugar, phases of the moon-who knows what causes their crazy? Do you enjoy working with these people? To you consider them to be management or leadership material? Are they pleasant to be around? Do you enjoy having to mood check these people before you talk to them, ask them a question, assign work to them, or heaven forbid if they are your boss, ask them for something resource you need?

Third, think about how much time and money workers waste if their boss is inconsistent. How good or bad a person’s direct boss is makes up much of their work happiness. If you have a great boss they can make even the most loathsome job at least bearable. If you have a son-of-bison as a direct boss they can make the greatest job seem like a prison sentence. If you have ten people working for you and they spend even five percent of their time mood checking you, then you have wasted half a person’s work every day. Do the math-by multiplying ten people by 5 percent. That’s half a person. Chances are they waste ten to twenty percent of the their time worrying what the crazy boss is up to and why then your staff of ten is really either 8 or 9 people.

So, what can you do to become consistent. Here are your action items.

Do all the things that will get you to an even keel. Eat right and regularly, get enough sleep, exercise on a regular basis, do something fun, journal. Don’t read blogs or watch TV that makes you crazy. If someone get’s to you, stay away from them until you know how to let it go. You know what to do.

Do a mood check every morning when you get up and on the way to work. If everybody on the freeway is trying to kill you and lights are taking forever and everybody at the coffee shop is in a terrible mood, it might be you. Okay, it is you.

Ask someone you trust to be your accountability buddy on consistency.

Study a little psychology, especially focussing on patterns of distorted thinking

Reap the ROI from creating a workplace where people worry less, are happier and more productive.

Enjoy a better home life, because if your employees are being made crazy by the fact that you are an emotional yoyo chances are your family wants to medicate you too.

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Article Tags: effective management, leadership characteristics, leadership training, supervision



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