0:01

Welcome to the Maxwell

0:03

leadership executive podcast. Our

0:05

goal is to help

0:07

you increase your reputation

0:09

as a leader, increase your

0:12

ability to influence others, and

0:14

increase your ability to fully

0:16

engage your team to deliver

0:19

remarkable results. Hi, I'm Perry

0:21

Holly, a Maxwell leadership facilitator

0:23

and coach. And I'm Chris

0:26

Cody, executive vice president with

0:28

Maxwell Leadership. Welcome and thank

0:30

you for joining. I want to

0:32

encourage you to go to Maxwell leadership.com/podcast. There

0:34

you can click on this podcast and leave

0:37

a note for us. You can leave a

0:39

topic that maybe you're struggling with as a

0:41

leader or your team struggling with. And I

0:43

do just want to pause for a minute

0:45

and say thank you because I know there's

0:47

a lot of teams that actually take these

0:50

podcast. They listen to them. probably on 2x

0:52

speed so you can get done within about

0:54

12 minutes and and then when they get

0:56

together they spend five or ten minutes man

0:58

what'd you learn what's your number one takeaway

1:00

and just this morning our executive team we

1:03

did the same thing with a different podcast

1:05

not one of ours And we spent 30

1:07

minutes unpacking. What does this look like for

1:09

our team? What does this look like for

1:12

you personally? And so man, it's a great

1:14

way to just begin developing your team. I

1:16

want to encourage you to do that with

1:18

this. Well, today's topic is the power of

1:21

consistency. And man, I know I've heard you

1:23

talk about this word. I know it's one

1:25

of your favorite words in leadership. And so

1:27

I'm going to start us off with a

1:30

quote that you have for us from Coach

1:32

John Wooden. run with it. Coach says

1:34

this, he says, consistency in high

1:36

performance and production is a

1:39

trademark of effective and successful

1:41

organizations and those who lead

1:44

them. Emotionalism destroys consistency. Powerful

1:46

statement right there. A leader

1:48

who is ruled by emotions

1:51

whose temperament is material produces

1:53

a team whose trademark is the

1:56

roller coaster, ups and downs

1:58

and performance unpredictability. undependability

2:00

in effort and concentration,

2:03

one day good, the next day bad.

2:05

This is a cycle, it's a

2:07

crazy cycle of driven by emotion.

2:09

So where this came from was

2:11

and why it's one of my

2:13

favorite words in leadership is so

2:15

much of being written today around

2:17

psychological safety and buy-in there is

2:19

a team bought into you the

2:21

leader and they're watching you all

2:24

the time and if you are

2:26

inconsistent. in the motion, if you're

2:28

inconsistent in your behaviors, if you're

2:30

inconsistent, I don't know what to

2:32

expect. And so I began to

2:34

hold back. And, you know, when I'm on

2:36

coaching calls, I was, when I was writing this

2:38

up, I thought, no one has ever on a

2:40

coaching call told me, I struggle with a, I'm just,

2:42

I have struggled with consistency problem.

2:45

They never say that. What they

2:47

say is, I lost my temper.

2:49

I screamed at someone. I was

2:51

short with someone. I didn't listen

2:54

before blasting away in all these

2:56

types of things. So it does

2:58

come down to emotion usually. But

3:01

this is just a powerful

3:03

trait for leaders to build

3:05

trust. to establish expectations to

3:07

drive organizational success, engagement, and

3:09

I thought we could talk

3:11

about some of the ways

3:13

that you could build consistency

3:15

and why it's important to

3:18

your leadership. Before we do

3:20

that, isn't it true too,

3:22

like if you look at

3:24

leaders that you have worked with

3:26

and worked for, you've never said about

3:28

that leader, I just... I wish they

3:30

weren't so consistent. Right? Like, think about

3:32

that on the other side. We asked

3:34

the question, what does it look like

3:37

to be on the other side of

3:39

your leadership? And so what does it

3:41

look like for you to be on

3:43

the other side of someone's leadership that

3:45

is all over the place? That is

3:47

not consistent. And the other thing that

3:49

I would say is that those that

3:51

are on your team or your peers

3:53

around you, leadership is contagious. And it's

3:56

a visual sport. And like you said,

3:58

they're watching you all of the time. years

4:00

and for your teams to be consistent

4:02

in your leadership. Yeah, I totally agree.

4:04

And so why it's really crucial for

4:07

your leadership is that it, and I

4:09

already mentioned the word, but it's it

4:11

consistent leaders. establish trust and credibility with

4:14

others and that you're predictable, you're reliable,

4:16

which helps build this trust with the

4:18

team. I know what to expect when

4:20

I'm with you. Your actions align with

4:23

your words. It demonstrates not only integrity,

4:25

but it reinforces your credibility. And so

4:27

I just think in the opposite of

4:30

that, like you're saying, if you are

4:32

not, you say let's let's take call

4:34

and then you lose it. I don't

4:37

know what to expect. Your credibility loss.

4:39

I don't trust you. Yeah, I love

4:41

that. Number two, man, if you can

4:43

be consistent, I think you have a

4:46

greater chance of setting and communicating clear

4:48

expectations with the team. I think they

4:50

then begin to learn your rhythm as

4:53

a leader. They understand then how you

4:55

would prioritize tasks and behave in the

4:57

workplace. They're going to mirror that as

5:00

well. And the clarity will empower employees

5:02

to then. run with things to take

5:04

initiatives and to make decisions confidently knowing

5:06

that they're acting in line with your

5:09

leadership style. Because if it's not consistent,

5:11

they're not sure if they make a

5:13

decision today, depending on where you are

5:16

leading from, from your temperament, that whether

5:18

it's going to be received well or

5:20

not. I want to come back to

5:22

this story real quick. We've shared it

5:25

on this podcast before. But in case

5:27

you're new, I want to share it

5:29

and then encourage you to go back

5:32

to episode number one and listen to

5:34

all of the ones that Perry's written

5:36

since then We have an organization that

5:39

we work with and upon the C

5:41

suite on the floor the most influential

5:43

individual on that floor Happens to be

5:45

the administrative assistant to the CEO and

5:48

so I got the asking questions being

5:50

curious and I love influence you know

5:52

have to have a title, tenure, why.

5:55

And they go, yeah, no, it's not

5:57

complex. I was like, okay. They said

5:59

it's just simply that she has two

6:01

different color coffee bugs. And she lets

6:04

us know by which color coffee mug

6:06

is sitting out on the front of

6:08

her desk what type of move to

6:11

CEO is in that day. And I

6:13

thought, man, that is a tough place.

6:15

And so they make decisions on what

6:18

they're going to talk about that day

6:20

or whether they even approach him based

6:22

on the color of the mug. That

6:24

would be in a situation where man

6:27

they just don't have clear expectations on

6:29

what's going to communicate how to act

6:31

what decision to make what not to

6:34

make so make sure that you understand

6:36

that the power of consistency also will

6:38

help create clear expectations. Yeah, the power

6:40

of consistency also adds to I think

6:43

the organizational culture. We talked a lot

6:45

about culture, but and you just said

6:47

it beautifully many ago. You said people

6:50

are watching you. Leadership is a visual

6:52

sport. Yeah. So if you're acting inconsistent,

6:54

you're up and down, you're all over

6:57

the place, actions don't match words, emotions

6:59

are in or out, high or high

7:01

or low. People are going to model

7:03

that and that's going to become your

7:06

culture. So they're watching. consistency is a

7:08

culture builder I believe. Yeah, it is.

7:10

Goes back to again, let me talk

7:13

a little bit about common language leads

7:15

to common beliefs that leads to common

7:17

behavior. Maybe if you struggle with this

7:20

consistency, you start talking to yourself and

7:22

saying, hey, I gotta be more consistent.

7:24

I gotta be more consistent. I gotta

7:26

when you do that, you're gonna begin

7:29

to believe that you're becoming more consistent

7:31

and then your behaviors are gonna show

7:33

up. And so that's one of the

7:36

ways that this can definitely. impact the

7:38

organizational culture is what is that common

7:40

language around leadership and consistency. Hey

7:42

podcast listeners, many of you

7:45

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the team to find out

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more. Well

8:44

number four is around goal achievement and

8:46

I think consistent leaders are more likely

8:48

to achieve the goals that are in

8:50

front of them because they stay focused

8:52

they I think about the one that

8:54

starts first and stays consistent that over

8:56

time ends up you think about the

8:59

compounding effect that that plays out there

9:01

and they can just stay on track

9:03

even after the excitement. wanes off. Even

9:05

after people, you know, change in different

9:07

jobs, you can keep the same project,

9:09

the same thing on task if you're

9:11

consistent with your people, and the goals

9:13

that you will achieve will be far

9:15

greater than if you're not consistent. And

9:18

this is another idea there about why

9:20

it's so important to be consistent. in

9:22

their approach, the team members feel, it's

9:24

almost like I'm definitely feeling more secure

9:26

in my role, but I'm also more

9:28

empowered. I'm likely to take more of

9:30

a risk, maybe step out and make

9:32

my own decisions. I'm more likely to

9:35

be more aggressive in my role because

9:37

I know I can trust you. You're

9:39

not going to go off all over

9:41

me. Your consistency breeds that level of

9:43

trust. But enough about that. Let's talk

9:45

about in our time we have remaining

9:47

about. So how can I build consistency.

9:49

Is that a skill I can build

9:52

or a characteristic I can develop. What

9:54

are your thoughts? Where should we start

9:56

with that? Yeah, I think the first

9:58

thing we need to do is as

10:00

we talk about in 360 degree leader,

10:02

we talk about that you have to

10:04

lead up and down and across, but

10:06

you have to leave yourself really well,

10:09

which is the main part of this.

10:11

Same thing with the five levels of

10:13

leadership. And so where is your self

10:15

awareness? Are you with emotions? And then

10:17

what triggers those emotions? Once you develop

10:19

that, once you understand that, then I

10:21

think you become more intelligent on how

10:23

you react in those moments in order

10:26

to be consistent. I'll share just a

10:28

personal example real quick and this is

10:30

outside of work, but even Sarah and

10:32

I who have very... high drive personalities

10:34

and when we have a conversation that

10:36

turns into a discussion and Chris is

10:38

wrong, which is most of the case,

10:40

we all naturally have some type of

10:43

cycle that we go into, right? And

10:45

where it's how you cope or it's

10:47

how your pain cycle or whatever that

10:49

might be. And so through a lot

10:51

of work, I became very self-aware of

10:53

when I begin to feel that, what

10:55

is it that's triggering me in certain

10:57

situations? And then you can... be able

11:00

to work through that and become consistent.

11:02

Not all the times, not all the

11:04

time, but I think that is what

11:06

we've got to do as leaders is

11:08

going, okay, hey, what situations when I

11:10

was in with Perry or conversations or

11:12

meetings or whatever it was that triggered

11:14

me to do that, we're not going

11:17

to be perfect, but just making sure

11:19

we're becoming self-aware and learn from what

11:21

we've done in the past in order

11:23

to become more consistent. Another great thing

11:25

you can do if you want to

11:27

grow. I love the idea about self-awareness

11:29

and developing my emotional intelligence. If you

11:31

really want to improve on that, I

11:34

find feedback being the ultimate form is

11:36

to get, can you get some feedback?

11:38

But I'm going to be a little

11:40

more specific is most people when it

11:42

comes to sensitive issues like this around

11:44

your personality and your characteristics. They're not.

11:46

I don't find most people are willing

11:48

to really share meaningful things with you.

11:51

So we talk a lot and John

11:53

has the law of the inner circle.

11:55

This is a miss for me in

11:57

my young leadership days, one that I

11:59

would not dare approach anything without today.

12:01

To have an inner circle. And if

12:03

you don't know this term, you should

12:05

definitely worth looking up and look at

12:08

the law of the inner circle. But

12:10

basically it says that I have some

12:12

people in my life, one or two,

12:14

maybe three, that for me is three.

12:16

Absolutely have my back. that know me,

12:18

that challenge me, that can tell me

12:20

anything. And so if I have a

12:22

concern about something, I'll ask for one

12:25

of these three people to give me

12:27

some feedback. Can you tell me what

12:29

happens when I enter the room? What's

12:31

it like to be on the other

12:33

side of me? They want to know

12:35

where I am, who I'm with, what

12:37

I'm doing? They don't mind holding me

12:39

to account. And so when you have

12:42

these people in your life, they can

12:44

tell you that this, having a inner

12:46

circle would be one of the key

12:48

things you could do to help. develop

12:50

your personal consistency in saying how do

12:52

my emotions come across yeah another way

12:54

to improve yourself awareness and thus your

12:56

consistency is just a practice being more

12:59

vulnerable. There's that word again. There's and

13:01

that is a word that is showing

13:03

up in leadership every day in a

13:05

lot of the inconsistent leaders that I've

13:07

come around that we've seen is that

13:09

they always want to be right and

13:11

they use different tactics along the way

13:13

to be right, whether it's raising their

13:16

voice, whether it's hitting the table, putting

13:18

other people in their place, whatever it

13:20

might be where they just want to

13:22

have the answer and to be right.

13:24

Of doing that, what I would want

13:26

you to do, encourage you to do,

13:28

is to put yourself in others' situation,

13:30

in other shoes and others' place. And

13:33

learn to say, hey man, I don't

13:35

know. I messed up. I could use

13:37

your help. What does this look like?

13:39

In vulnerability, 100% will help drive trust.

13:41

That's for sure. The final one I

13:43

was thinking of was practicing emotional regulation.

13:45

that manage your emotions effectively, especially in

13:47

those challenging situations. As Chris said, can

13:50

you identify your triggers? Do you know

13:52

when it's happening so you can capture

13:54

that? John Maxwell says you either delay

13:56

or display your emotions. Yeah. And I

13:58

thinking, boy, you could really build your

14:00

consistency by learning how to delay your

14:02

emotions. Somebody asked me the other day

14:04

when I was in a coaching situation.

14:07

They said, well, is there ever a

14:09

time you should display your emotions? I'm

14:11

sure there probably are, but it's within

14:13

a set of guardrails again. It's on

14:15

purpose, it's intentional to drive a point

14:17

to make somebody feel your energy. I

14:19

don't know. I had a consultant once

14:21

asked me as I was being yelled

14:24

at my client who didn't like something

14:26

we did and we're walking back to

14:28

the car and the consultant asked me,

14:30

she said, do you ever get mad?

14:32

I said, would it help? I just

14:34

don't ever find that, you know, I

14:36

was mad. I actually was mad right

14:38

then. I was mad that they were

14:41

treating me that way, talking to me

14:43

that way, but I just said, I

14:45

have the maturity and I practice this

14:47

enough to say I can control that.

14:49

I can delay my emotions in this

14:51

moment and then reap the benefit of

14:53

that consistency, even with that client. They

14:55

thanked me later, said, I shouldn't have

14:58

talked to you that way. And I

15:00

thought. Peace, we're good, yeah. But I've

15:02

blown up, it would have been no

15:04

discussion further, so. I agree. I think

15:06

whether it's in decision-making, I think whether

15:08

it's in your emotions, I think consistency

15:10

of how you react in the moment

15:12

is 100% a key to being successful

15:15

no matter what you're doing. I have

15:17

a little 24-hour rule where if... I

15:19

get frustrated or I hear something or

15:21

I want to react, I have a

15:23

little self-talk. Chris, it's probably not the

15:25

best time for you to say X,

15:27

Y, Z. Now sometimes it is, but

15:29

because I'm naturally wired as a processor,

15:32

it's easier for me to go. Let

15:34

me think about that and I'm going

15:36

to come back to it. very frustrated

15:38

very emotional with me and it's like

15:40

hey I hear you and I need

15:42

some time to just think through this

15:44

and then let's reconnect whatever that conversation

15:46

might be but that's my consistent way

15:49

of handling it so that my emotions

15:51

can stay consistent across the board and

15:53

so I just want to encourage you

15:55

to do that. We also talk about

15:57

how authenticity is so important as a

15:59

leader and it is. What we want

16:01

to do is we want you to

16:03

be authentic to who you are and

16:06

some of you go, well great, that

16:08

means I can yell and scream and

16:10

that's the real me. That's my consistency.

16:12

That's not what we're saying in this

16:14

situation as you're leaving and influencing other

16:16

people. And so we do want you

16:18

to be authentic with those that you're

16:20

leading, but do it in a way

16:23

that's respectful and that you can be

16:25

consistent with over time. For me, it's

16:27

a 24-hour rule. in a certain situation

16:29

like that where I may feel my

16:31

blood pressure raising or I may not

16:33

know the answer or anything. And so

16:35

however you need to go about doing

16:37

that, think about in situations where you

16:40

haven't been as consistent as you possibly

16:42

should have. Maybe personally, maybe professionally and

16:44

figure out what was that trigger and

16:46

then how do you put a learned

16:48

behavior in place to be able then

16:50

to come out on the other side

16:52

of being consistent. And my last thought

16:54

is your title walks in the room

16:57

before you do. I would also tell

16:59

you this is that. you know how

17:01

people expect you to react whether you

17:03

like it or not becomes your leadership

17:05

style or your leadership brand and that's

17:07

what you're going to be known for

17:09

that's right that's good and so do

17:11

you want to be known for this

17:14

hothead that is just on this roller

17:16

coaster up and down or do you

17:18

want to be known for a leader

17:20

that goes, you know what, we're going

17:22

to stay right here, we're going to

17:24

be consistent, we're going to figure it

17:26

out, whatever that might look like in

17:28

the situation. So just keep those things

17:31

in mind as you're taking notes as

17:33

you're sharing these thoughts with your team

17:35

based off the content that Perry brought

17:37

to us today. Fantastic. Thank you. As

17:39

a reminder, you can go to maxral

17:41

leadership.com/pod. You can learn

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more about our offerings

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about other podcasts

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