Thursdays Leadership Insight What and How You Do Things Every Day Matters; Rethink Consistency as a Paradox in Your Leadership Practice
Consistency in leadership is a highly valued leadership content skill. The leader's practice of being consistent in words and actions provides clarity and a benchmark for the leader to exhibit and those they lead and serve. Consistency in leadership practice unifies the organization and becomes a model for all to follow.
"In practice, it doesn't matter how long it takes for a habit to become automatic. What matters is that you take the actions you need to take to make progress."
James Clear, Atomic Habits
.Consistency as a deliberate, intentional daily work is always considered the foundation of success in any arena. Success certainly comes in deliberate successful practice toward a goal. This is true for leadership, school, financial planning, dieting, or achieving any skill. or goal. There is some discussion about what consistency is. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, wrote it was the passage of time dedicated to saying took 10,000 was the "magic number of greatness'’citing Bill Gates or the Beatles. This number has been questioned consideting exceptional athletes with tremendous skills and their early impacts. Many stories of those who didn't practice squandered their talents and careers. Examining the success of number one draft choices in any professional sport makes this clear. Talent may be a great benefit; however, when matched with a consistent, intentional habit,it can be Michael Jordan like. It is clear that a factor is the consistency of time; there is more to consistency than time. An adherence to consistency being time can lead to a reliance on past tradition and practice, limiting considering the two main parts of Covid changes suffering and opportunity. Consistency is what gets done repeatedly, intentionally, and disciplined every day. James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, writes that "you need to string together enough successful attempts until the behavior is firmly embedded in your mind and you cross the habit line. In practice, it doesn't matter how long it takes for a habit to become automatic. What matters is that you take the actions you need to take to make progress". Consistency then is more than just having a routine over time; it is taking action and reflection and making successful progress that determine the effectiveness of any leader in any organization.
An adherence to consistency as time can lead to a reliance on tradition and ?practice, limiting consideration of the two main effects of Covid changes suffering and opportunity
In this rapidly changing world, leaders must rethink consistency as deliberate, intentional, and disciplined habitual actions to make progress. This notion is cited In a recent Forbes article Adapt Or Die. In The New World Of Work, It's More Than A Nifty Slogan by Rodger Dean Duncan. Duncan notes the tragedy and oppurtunity of Covid. He Writes "In this topsy-turvy world, we(leaders) have three options. We can resist change and fade into irrelevance. "We can wait and react to change, then hang on for dear life and hope to survive. (We likely won't.) Or we can proactively anticipate change, then adapt and thrive.It sounds simple enough. But the landscape is littered with people who chose one of the first two options." These three options are what psychologists call the freeze, flight, or flight stress response. The first two responses are due in many situations to holding on to a model of consistency, meaning we do what we have always done because we always did it that way. (freeze),we will do what we always did until forced to change flight, or we reconsider what we do effectively and consistently to succeed (fight). Retinkinking consistency creates an intentional habit of looking up, down, and all around for new situations to learn and sieze opportunities in this time. This leaves us to consider how to address the suffering part of the Covid effects. Employee well-being must be addressed consistently, as cited this week in the State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report. Rethinking consistency for those you serve by sticking firmly to and doubling down on Purpose beliefs and core values will produce happy workers and customers and provide relief from the wave of resignations that have happened worldwide, especially in the U.S. since?May 2021. This rethinking requires a paradoxical view of consistency by sticking to traditional values to address suffering people and innovation for practices and seizing an opportunity .
Employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $7.8 trillion in lost productivity, according to Gallup's?State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report. That's equal to 11% of global G.D.P.?
The question for leaders then does consistency mean doing what we have always done because we always did it that way for the twin functions of leadership, building people up and getting things done. This approach is referred to as T.T.W.W.A.D.I," That's The Way We always did it" It is a strong force pushing organizations and their leaders to say two things "We can all go back as before," and the crisis is passed, and we can discount the costs and suffering to those we lead. This drive to push back top normal and ignore the well-being of employees by some organizations has led to the Great Resignation and record low levels of engagement of workers and their well-being noted in the State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report.released this week. This is is an annual report and is global. Interestingly, the U.S. and Canada have the highest numbers in the study on worker engagement. It is 20 % globally and 33% in the U.S. and Canada. Perceived well-being is however,cited as stress 50% to 40 % globally or worry globally, and in Canada and the U.S., 40 %. The numbers are especially perplexing in the U.S. and Canada as the economies of both countries have rebounded and have the most thriving job markets. These thriving markets, record-low well-being reports, and engagement scores are seen in the great resignation. In a June 14, 2022, Gallup article, The World's $7.8 Trillion Workplace Problem,?RYAN PENDELL writes about the costs to the world economy. Employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $7.8 trillion in lost productivity, according to Gallup's?State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report. That's equal to 11% of global G.D.P.?
Consistency is a paradoxical leadership practice of intentional, deliberate practice holding on to what works primarily for people and their well-being paired with a consistent openness to learning, unlearning, and relearning to seize the opportunity to add value to the organization, its people, and customers. This issue of consistency in leadership paradox is explained by The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership?by Tim Elmore. Two of the eight paradoxes underscore a rethinking of consistency as a leadership paradox. Dr. Elmore, in this book, provides guidance on the paradox of consistency in leadership in these two paradoxes. Elmore is cited ?in a blog LeadingBlog?leadership Now on January 2022 ?by MICHAEL MCKINNEY
领英推荐
Paradox #4: Uncommon Leaders Are Both Stubborn and Open-Minded
"Leaders will never reach a goal without being strong-willed. Without a stubborn will, obstacles will stop them. At the same time, they'd be na?ve to think they have all the answers at the beginning of a venture. They must be open to voices of counsel, flex, and adapt to changing realities.
Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said it best, "The most incredibly interesting thing about being a leader is what adjustments you make and how to make them while keeping your core principles alive and well."
Paradox #8: Uncommon Leaders Are Both Timely and Timeless
"Uncommon leaders in the twenty-first century must balance this very difficult paradox. First, they must embrace and advance timeless principles that make for lasting success, values that have stood the test of time and worked in all generations and every context. At the same time, these leaders must leverage culturally appropriate methods and futuristic resources.
Their core identity is ageless, but their mode of operation is cutting edge and sets the pace for others. They're passionate about pursuing future opportunities, but in their appetite for progress, they never leave behind core virtues, values, and disciples."
These paradoxes illuminate how to rethink consistency in our leadership practice. Consistently holding on to timeless values such as purpose beliefs and core values is critical to addressing well-being and engagement. The why and value are the core of all leadership, define the organization, and must be consistently, deliberately, and intentionally practiced. They define why we exist and who we are to ourselves, our customers, and the world. Conversely, leaders must also continually learn, unlearn, and relearn, seeking new and varied ways to be effectively competitive and sustainable. They must embrace learning and teaching to model consistently improving to be effective. This is what we do. Embracing this paradox with deliberate, intentional consistency requires holding to beliefs, values, and service to those they lead. It also means fostering a safe environment to be, as Adam Grant refers to it in Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, as being a scientist consistently seeking learnings gathered from success and failure and reinventing how things are done while holding to valuing the people we lead.
The benefits of a paradoxical practice of Consistency can be higher engagement, feelings of well-being, and retention, all leading to increased productivity and sustainability to be agile to continually occurring challenges. Pendell, in the Gallup article The World's $7.8 Trillion Workplace Problem cited notes, " Creating a culture of engagement is not easy.?Building a highly engaged organization takes intention, investment, and effort over several years. But the results are worth it. Gallup's most recent?employee engagement meta-analysis?of 112,312 business units found that teams scoring in the top quartile on employee engagement saw the following benefits compared with bottom-quartile teams:
The leadership question for you then is ;
1. Can you rethink your practice of consistency as a leader to paradoxically embrace the timeless and the timely?