The Powerful Advantage to Leading With Consistency

A consistent leader is a reliable leader, one that is trustworthy and dependable.

The consistency they offer also provides predictability and stability – traits that contribute to a safe culture.

For some personalities, being consistent and persistent is practically second nature. Being spontaneous, adventurous, and in the moment comes more easily to others. If you are of the latter variety, being consistent in some key areas will be essential for your success.

A Lesson In Consistency

My grandkids love pancakes – especially if they have chocolate chips in them! The quality of a pancake depends on the consistency of the batter.

If the batter is too thick, it’s difficult to pour and the pancakes are dry.

If the batter is too runny, the pancakes spread out and become unmanageable.

The consistency determines the quality of a pancake.

The Right Consistency

The right consistency hinges on having the right combination of ingredients: 1 cup flour, 1 cup liquid, 1 egg, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 4 tablespoons melted butter, and a nice dash of salt. Using this guideline, you are able to whip up a variety of pancakes.

These days, I only make gluten free pancakes, and before you say yuck, I doubt you could tell the difference! To feed all my grands, it’s necessary to make a triple batch.

Instead of white flour, I use a combination of almond flour and Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour in equal parts.

Because I am a dairy-free girl, I use a combination of plain dairy-free yogurt and almond milk for the liquid.

I frequently replace the eggs with applesauce – ¼ cup for each egg since we have some egg free kiddos in our family.

And rather than using butter, I use avocado oil.

Sometimes I toss in a few extras like diced banana, blueberries, granola, or the chocolate chips I mentioned earlier.

As long as the ingredients are in the right proportions, the consistency will be right. Deviating significantly from these proportions leads to less than positive results.

Pancakes & Leaders

I bet you are wondering what in the world pancakes have to do with leaders. Well, consistency is also a big deal when it comes to leading well!

Have you ever followed an inconsistent leader? It’s exhausting, not to mention how the inconsistency whittles away at trust and makes for some very frustrating moments!

Leading with consistency gives a leader a powerful advantage!

Want to be a more consistent leader? Here are the ingredients – the areas for you to work on:

1. Consistently Sharing A Clear Vision

A vision provides substance for a leader just like flour is the substance for pancakes. Regardless of your leadership role – leader of an organization, business owner, ministry leader, parent, blogger extraordinaire, or just being in charge of you – having a clear sense of where you want go or what you want to accomplish makes all the difference.

When your vision is crystal clear following you is a breeze!

Lack of vision, on the other hand, creates confusion, diminishes trust, leads to restless followers, and even rebellion. So does an inconsistency between the vision and the actions of a leader.

Write your personal vision and/or the vision of the organization down. Keep it in front of you. Share it often!

2. Consistently Leading From Your Values

Eggs enhance the texture and hold pancakes together. You may not know it, but there are all sorts of egg substitutes. In the past, I used ground chia or flax seeds with a little milk. Then we discovered my grandson was highly allergic to those seeds!

That’s why these days I use applesauce instead.

Just like there’s more than one way to bind a pancake, there’s more than one way to connect everything together as a leader. Everyone has a different set of personal values that influence their leadership.

Do you know what your top five values are? Have you captured your values in writing?

What are the top five values of your organization? How clearly and consistently are you communicating these values with those you lead?

3. Operating at a Slow and Steady Pace

Being fired up and enthusiastic about a plan is energizing, unless you are speeding ahead of your team and leaving them all in the dust!

Carrying out a plan in fits and starts frustrates your people and may even cause them to disengage.

However, introducing a plan at a consistent slow and steady pace increases the odds of the plan becoming a reality. A slow and steady leader attracts followers!

The proper pace is like the perfect amount of liquid in your pancake batter.

4. Consistently Taking Time to Focus

I like to make a big batch of pancakes and then refrigerate the leftovers to be cooked later. Believe it or not, I think pancake batter gets better over time, however, it often thickens. Before cooking the pancakes after day or two later, I evaluate whether or not more liquid is needed.

Having a consistent rhythm of pausing, reflecting, and evaluating your progress and what you need to add or eliminate in order to achieve your goals and desired results is critical for leaders as well. It’s a great way to realign your efforts!

5. Having A Consistent Support System

Fat-free has been trendy, and while it’s possible to make pancakes without adding any fat, they definitely aren’t as tasty! Fat is actually good for you when they are good fats!

It’s possible to reach your goals on your own, although having support makes the process more positive too! That support might come from a co-worker, a friend, family member, or a coach in your corner, and it will increase your effectiveness, speed up the process, and make for a more delightful experience.

I frequently hear leaders share how isolated they feel. I hear similar frustrations from entrepreneurs or solopreneurs.

Who is supporting you? How will you consistently check in with them?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the support, have a sounding board, and someone to celebrate your successes with you?

6. Consistently Modeling a Self-Controlled Lifestyle

Don’t be fooled! People are watching how you handle yourself when it comes to work/life balance, healthy habits, honesty, and your overall character. Lacking consistency in your personal life bleeds over into how you lead.

Your ability to consistently lead yourself well gives you credibility and increases the confidence others have in you as a leader.

Just like the right amount of salt enhances the flavor of a pancake, your leadership will be more palatable when you manage you well.

Diminishing habits like micromanaging, demanding perfection, etc., or poor personal habits like working out sporadically, all leave a bad taste behind like too much or too little salt.

7. Consistently Spending Time Daily With God

Baking powder is what gives “lift” to a pancake, and without time with God your leadership will fall flat. It’s been said that we become like those we spend time with, and there isn’t anyone more consistent than God!

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

If consistency is a struggle for you, make connecting with God your first priority! After all, without Him, your efforts are sure to be less fruitful. Ask Him to help you be more consistent – He’s eager to assist when you depend on Him. With Him leading and helping it changes everything.

8. Consistently Putting Energy Into The Right Stuff

How you go about preparing your pancake batter matters! For the best results, you want to combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and mix well. Then combine the wet ingredients in another bowl and mix thoroughly. Then you want to combine the wet and dry together mixing until almost combined. Over-mixing pancake batter pops the bubbles you want in your batter that make them light and fluffy rather than tough and rubbery.

As a leader, you are perpetually juggling your responsibilities and there are a lot of them! You might be “mixing and mixing” but not accomplishing what you really need to!

In all the activity, you may lose sight of your top priorities as a leader: to lead, develop, and care for your people. However, consistently putting energy into these three areas makes a powerful difference in your people’s performance, the culture, and engagement.

While too much to go into here, I’ve gone into more detail around lead, develop, and care in this video.

Are you putting your energy into the right stuff?

When it comes to producing the perfect pancake or being a leader that others want to follow, consistency gives you a powerful advantage! Once you have that under your belt, you can toss in some extras like I do when making pancakes for my grands. Yummy things like chocolate chips, bananas, blueberries, or granola.

In the context of leadership those extras might be your own brand of creativity, humor, innovation, joy and enthusiasm, or generosity. Ingredients that make your leadership even more impactful and palatable like chocolate chips!

Consistency adds up to trust which is exactly what you want!

Where do you need to be more consistent?

What would you be able to accomplish if you were more consistent?

© Can Stock Photo Inc. / frannyanne

Originally posted on 7/8/14, this post has been updated and revised just for you!