Why Consistency Is Crucial To Your Management Success
On a recent management course we were running, the discussion revolved around the key skills managers need to make an impact in today’s working environment. One delegate suggested consistency in approach. But another delegate thought it would stifle creativity if a manager tried to be consistent.
I thought about this and have come up with a few benefits of management consistency:
1) Consistency reduces confusion and uncertainty within the team. If your team wonder how you are going to respond to various ideas and issues, you create an atmosphere of doubt and people will think twice about airing thoughts that might be more creative because of concern about your reaction
2) Being consistent brings the perception of who you are and who others think you are closer together. This means people are able to trust you and understand your reactions if there’s a difference of opinion
3) Consistency helps you to ‘walk your talk’. It improves and highlights your personal brand and helps people recognise who you are and the standards you aim for
4) Consistency enables your team to support you in your decision-making. Knowing how you will respond will allow team members to have confidence in approaching you and supporting the way you deal with problems
5) Consistency can still encourage creativity. It just means that in situations that require you to make decisions, people know where they stand with you and can predict your behavioural styles
So, there’s no doubt that people can build their trust in you when you are consistent in your approach and a level of understanding not found where inconsistency is rife.
