576 | The Value of Being a Consistent Leader

Hey folks, before we kick off today's episode, I wanna touch on something crucial that we like to call Fake Delegation. Ever do that you think you delegate, but find yourself micromanaging or taking tasks back. It's frustrating, right?

You're left burnt out, your team slows down and your business doesn't grow. That's why we created Five Ways You Fake Delegate. It comes from our own combined experiences and challenges in business and our desire to always serve you best.

We've been there, and this guide is our way of helping you navigate those delegation missteps. Grab it from the show notes, it's free, and might just change the way you lead now onto our episode.

How consistency helps your team work better and drive better results. That is coming up next.

Welcome to The Chris LoCurto Show, where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are.

Welcome to the show, folks. I hope you're having a fabulous day wherever you are

Today, we are talking about the power of being a consistent leader and how it affects your team, how it affects your culture, and ultimately how it affects your success. Now, as I go into this, it may seem like, oh, consistency.

How, how, how important of a concept can that possibly be? I know I'm supposed to be consistent. Well, unfortunately, it is not a concept that is taught in leadership enough.

What I mean by consistency is, in a way, a friend of mine, a leader that I worked with years ago, had a great way of saying this.

We were discussing a situation that we saw with a leader and just trying to walk through what, what could have happened differently, all that kind of fun stuff.

And he, he put it in a great way. He said, your team must be able to anticipate you. And it was just such a great way of summing up the things that we knew, the things that we understood.

You know, when your team doesn't understand you, when they don't know how you're gonna react, when they can't recognize that something is gonna happen because of this bad situation.

Or you know, what are, how are you gonna respond to a mistake that's made, then it changes the team member, it changes the team, it changes the culture, and ultimately it changes your success.

So that's why we are talking about this today. What we are talking about is the leader who is predictable, right?

The, the, the leader who time after time, kind of builds this bridge of trust with their team, that the team can trust that this is how the leader is going to be.

You've heard me say a million times on the show that we have a five step process for solving problems, and it works with 98% of problems. I mean, it's just phenomenal.

What happened? How did it happen? Why did it happen? How do we fix it? How do we make sure it never happens again, that is a, a process that is not only does it work, but the entire team can anticipate not only me, but all the leaders and all the other team members too.

That is something that can be anticipated. This is what's gonna happen. So when a new team member comes on board and they fail at something, they mess something up and fear sets in that they've disappointed somebody.

You know, somebody's gonna get mad, somebody's gonna rip their head off. We walk through this process, or we find out that somebody is not being honest, that they mess something up.

And that's, that drives me nuts, right? But it's understandable. I'll sit down and, or me, one of the leaders will sit down with the person and go, why didn't you share this?

Well, I was afraid that, you know, you're gonna rip my head off. Okay, well, how have you seen us handle problems in the past? And they walk through the five steps.

Well, we do this, this, this, and this. Okay, what happens afterwards? Nothing. And we just go back to work. So you don't get your head ripped off? No.

Okay, then just anticipate that in the future. Make sure that you understand that's the way it's gonna happen. Now, don't keep doing the same mistake over and over again.

'cause then it's gonna be a different type of discussion. But your team needs to be able to anticipate how you're gonna respond in most situations.

Now, they, you know, the good thing is if they see you in most situations, and that would give them an idea how you would respond in every situation.

But either way, this type of consistency is absolutely powerful. It builds this incredible bridge of trust between you and your team, right? Your leaders and their team.

So we're gonna explore this, why this kind of predictability is, is worth its weight in gold. But I want to, I want to kind of help you to see something about what it's like, what a leader has a, a posture of being, like a steady rock.

So imagine a workplace where you as a team member, like if you're a team member in, in this type of culture where you're like free to be like, you know, the mad scientist, or maybe that's, maybe that's go a little too far, but that you, you have the ability to try out new ideas.

You have the ability to take risks, take chances. You know that by doing so, that those above you, your leader, your leadership team, whatever, that this is, understood that it's okay, that it's good to take chances, that it's good to take risks, obviously, within the parameters of the culture.

Right now, we don't, we don't wanna go taking risks way beyond. We don't want somebody who's going and starting a new business for our business.

Well, I just thought you guys would be okay with that. No, we're we're talking about what's inside the parameter of the culture, inside the, the mission inside, you know, the, the StratPlan, the strategic plan that we are focused on at the time.

What kind of risks can somebody take? What trust level can they have that they know that they can stick their neck out and it's not gonna get chopped off?

When you have a level of consistency with your leadership and how you respond to things, then it changes the attitudes of your team members.

Consistency absolutely destroys fear. Well, how could that be, Chris?

Because if I know how you're gonna respond as a leader, and if I know that it's the way that I've seen you respond every single time, then I don't have to be afraid of how you're gonna respond this next time.

Now, as I'm going through this, let me throw a caveat out like I always do. If you're not leading well then that type of consistency is gonna be known as well to your team.

If, if you're not actually doing something, if you're not holding people accountable, then your team's gonna understand that that's your consistency as well. So let's just make sure that that's not what we're doing.

We're talking about in a world where you're doing a great job of leading your team, they understand how you respond to situations, it changes their attitude, it changes communication.

Think of how free people are to communicate inside of your team. Think of how easy communication is.

Think about how, you know, it's, it's one of those things where I'm not worried about sharing information that people need to be successful.

And at the same time, I'm probably not gonna be sitting around gossiping because, you know, I, I feel like a leader doesn't listen and doesn't understand. So communication looks considerably different, right?

If you're consistent, then people understand how you lead through tough conversations. What does that look like?

My team knows that when something difficult comes along, one of the first things they're gonna hear from me is, Hey, we do not live in fear.

We are not gonna be afraid of this. We are gonna tackle this thing. Whatever it is, we're gonna tackle it. My team knows that. That's usually the first place I go to.

Why? 'cause I've been leading people for decades, and one of the things I know is fear tends to be a place that people go to, and I hate it.

Drives me nuts. Get over the fear. Let's get some real quality perspective about what's going on, and then make a decision what to do. The fear is not gonna change anything.

It's not gonna help you out. My team knows that. So my team, you will find them telling each other, Hey, we don't live in fear.

You know, don't be afraid about this thing. Let's figure out what we're gonna do to solve this.

Another great thing is imagine what it's like, you know, and again, I was saying in tough conversations, that wasn't even a tough conversation.

But what if you were, what if you were consistent on how, and by the way, not just you, but what if the whole leadership team, when they had tough conversations with team members, there was a consistency in how those conversations went, then nobody's gonna be surprised, right?

Everybody's gonna understand this is how this leadership team handles this. What about performance reviews? What about KRA reviews?

You should be having those KRA reviews consistently until a team member is killing it, you know, busting it, doing 90, a hundred percent on their KRAs, right? And then you can space those out.

But if you're doing quality KRA reviews and people understand every single time, this is what they can expect from you, whether they're doing a great job or they're not doing a great job, that's gonna make that so much easier.

And it's gonna make it where team members stepping into a KRA review already knows how you're gonna respond.

So let's think about it this way. What about the team member who likes to hide things because they're afraid of getting in trouble or afraid of disappointing somebody?

Well, if you are running your KRA review the way you should, and it's high levels of, of accountability, and they see that you're not letting anything get past you, then guess how they're gonna go into the next review?

Anticipating that you are very aware of how they're doing, so they're gonna do their best to be on top of that and discuss that well with you and, and probably figure out how to solve those problems ahead of time.

So when you don't, let's talk about the negative side of this. When you don't have consistency, when you have inconsistency, then there are all kinds of negative effects, especially on team dynamics, right?

We just mentioned one of them. Fear. Fear is huge for a team. A team that works under an inconsistent leader or an inconsistent leadership team.

Fear tends to to live within that culture, right? Uncertainty absolutely lives within that culture. Those are gonna lead to the worst part, reduced productivity. You hear me talk about that all the time.

If you have a team member who's fearful, who doesn't know what they're doing or doesn't know what they can expect, they're only gonna do the amount that they need to do to get a paycheck.

And that, I hate, I cannot stand that. That drives me nuts. I can't stand to see somebody you know, halfway doing their job because it, it's what they can get away with to get a paycheck for the love.

That means that you're paying twice the amount that you need to for that role. So do something about that. Be consistent. You know, have quality carrier reviews and tough conversations.

When you don't, then you can't be surprised that your productivity is probably half of what you're paying for.

When you have folks that they're uncertain of how you're gonna be uncertain of the culture, uncertain of whether or not they're gonna, you know, have to leave and go get another job in the next three, six months, something like that.

When there's that lack of consistency, that fear sets in, they hold back on what they're doing. They don't take any risks, they don't stick their neck out.

And unfortunately, you end up paying twice the amount for what you're getting.

I guarantee you they're not communicating well, I guarantee you, they're not caring about other people more than they care about themselves.

They're not caring about the client more than they care about themselves. They're not caring more than not, a vendor is delivering on on what they've promised.

They're just waiting and biding their time. So when you are not consistent, these are the things that you see on a consistent basis. Didn't plan that one, but there you go.

You know, when you experience, and I think everybody has that person who has all of those excuses as to why they're not doing a great job.

When you dig in, what you tend to find is, is that there's a whole lot of deflection. They're deflecting, it may, you know, which is a waste of time, but it doesn't mean that they're a hundred percent off.

They could literally be pointing to something that's causing this. But even though it's their decision to be non-productive or, or very low in productivity or having all these excuses, the key is, is what do you take away from it?

When you see these situations happening on your team, when you see that there's a lack of cohesion, a lack of trust, you know, inconsistency in the team itself.

Because by the way, if you are not consistent in the leadership team, you're gonna see that the team is inconsistent as well. When you see these aspects, what do you do about it?

What do you do? How do you fix that? Do you recognize it? Do you see that it's actually happening?

Do you see that team members are working way less than they should be for the amount of money that you're paying them?

These are all negative aspects of what happens when you as a leader or you as a, as, as a leadership team are inconsistent and people cannot anticipate you.

So what should you be doing? Well, the first thing you should do is ask yourself, how am I inconsistent? Go to those around you.

If you've got a leadership team that is healthy and can speak into it, ask that question, put that out on the table. If you're having quality leadership team meetings, like you should then put that out on the table.

Guys, how are we inconsistent in our leadership? How are we inconsistent in our, the way that we have tough conversations?

How are we inconsistent on how we give somebody a, a, a work process to, you know, overcome failure? How are we inconsistent on our KRA reviews?

Look through your leadership as a whole. How are we consistent or inconsistent on how we praise people? Look through your leadership as a whole and tell your team, listen, get over your ego and your pride.

We need to bust right into this thing and find out, take inventory. Become aware of where you guys are lacking, where you as an individual are lacking.

Write those things down. Pay attention to 'em, discuss 'em. Talk about how we're gonna fix those. What can we do to change those inconsistencies?

What does it look like for us to do? So, how do we get on the same page? Quite often in StratPlan, we'll discover that a leadership team doesn't have a great quality leadership team meeting.

You know, that they're, they don't know what to do. They feel like it's a waste of time, and so they don't realize how much it's hurting them.

And so that is always something that we institute and make sure if a team does not have it, that they start immediately, that they start having a quality leadership team meeting that helps them to get on the same page.

That helps 'em to have quality conversations, even if they're tough conversations to learn all of these aspects about how to lead the team better.

This being one of those things. What does it look like for us to be consistent and how we lead?

What does it look like for us to be on the same page as leaders on how we fire, how we do reviews, all of these different aspects that we're talking about so that the leaders set the stage for everybody else.

You lead and become the example for the culture. If the culture is going to respond to being consistent, there has to be a great example that they can point to.

If they don't have a great example to point to, what are they going on?

What are they basing their consistency on, right? They're basing their consistency on the lack of consistency that they're seeing on a daily basis.

So if you want your culture changed, if you want your culture impact, then you as a leader, your leadership team as a whole, needs to be consistent in all of these areas.

So spending that time looking through your entire culture, you know, so as a leadership team, inventory of yourselves, become incredibly aware of yourselves and where you're falling short.

Put a plan together, but then take a look through your entire culture. Now, for me, you've heard me say this before, for me, culture is the sum of actions and attitudes, right?

The, the things that we are seeing in people's actions and the attitudes that we are seeing in people, that sums up the culture, right? That's going to, that's gonna define a lot of what's going on in our business.

So if you can take a look around your team, look around your culture, you're gonna be amazed at how easy it is to see consistencies and inconsistencies.

And when you find the consistencies, compare them. How much better is that section, that area, that team, whatever it is that part of the culture doing than the inconsistent parts of the culture.

Don't just agree that it's better. Literally ask the questions, why is this so much better than this area over here? And you will see those elements start to pop up.

This is going to help you as a leader or leadership team to implement ways to solve that, to lead your team to success. But guess what? You have to be the example.

Hey leaders, this is Joel Fortner, VP of Leadership Development at Chris LoCurto's company. I have some questions for you.

Do you as a leader, feel like you are caught up in a crazy cycle of stress and tasks that never ends week to week?

Do you ever have to deal with tough conversations with team members and you sit at home the next day, the night before, worried about how's it gonna go?

What am I gonna say? What are they gonna say? Can I think fast enough on my feet? Is it gonna be a total failure? Are you experiencing culture problems or it stuff that just breaks down trust and unity on your team?

Well, if you're, if you can relate to any of this, this is a pretty typical leadership story and situation. Here's the thing though, it doesn't have to be that way. And we can help you solve these things.

We can help you become the leader that solves these problems and leads their team to greater success. I wanna introduce you to the Key Leaders Program.

This is an ongoing leadership development program that gives you the lesson track coaching and accountability.

You need to become the leader you can become to actually implement what you're actually learning in this program.

Things fall apart without great leadership and intentionality. If you wanna solve the problems that are holding you back from being a great leader, we can help you with this program. Get in touch with Joel at chrislocurto.com.

So some things that you can do to build a consistent leadership style, again, after taking this inventory, some of the steps that will help you out to maintain consistency is by defining how you handle certain situations, like leading people to success.

What does it look like to take a team member and say, okay, I've got this team member, I need the five steps of what I'm going to do to help them be better at their role, right?

What do those five steps look like? What does checking in look like? What does leading them look like? What does getting them the right tools and everything they need?

Take a look around the areas of your culture that need consistency and then start to define and, you know, label out the things that you need to do to make that area more consistent, where your leadership is more consistent.

If you're not doing things like quality accountability, you know, you've heard me say the KRA reviews, the way we do KRA reviews is when somebody starts, they get a KRA review every 30 days until they are killing it for the first three months, 30 days.

Go over the KRA reviews, see how they're doing. When they start killing it, they're doing like 90, a hundred percent on their KRAs. Spread it out to every two months.

If they're consistent with 90 to a 100%, spread it out to every three months. After that, maybe bump it to six months. But I wouldn't do any less than twice a year.

That is a consistency that is going to bring great, listen to me, people accountability. What do so many leaders in businesses struggle with?

Lack of high levels of quality communication, lack of quality, accountability. You know it, for all of our folks that are in the Next-Level Mastermind program, they're all amen-ing right now.

They're like, yeah, that's exactly an area that I've struggled with and had to really put a lot of effort into it. Listen, accountability isn't something that you give five minutes of attention to.

You must be consistent. What about the accountability to the processes and the procedures inside of your business, inside of a team?

If there is no accountability to the process, then how in the world are you gonna know if it's being done right? How in the world are you gonna know if somebody's doing their job that you're paying them for?

So these are things that you can put in place. Look at the areas of what does it look like to be consistent with accountability. So another one that a lot of folks struggle with is having tough conversations.

This is always, whenever we teach this lesson or you know, the lesson in the program that we do or our coaches coaching on it, this is always a, a top topic that gets discussed because so many folks hate to have tough conversations and so many folks don't know how to have tough conversations.

And so many folks just absolutely hate and try to avoid conflict when you are consistent. Listen to me, my high Ss and high Cs out there, I'm an 88 S, I get it. I understand.

I used to struggle with this stuff myself, but I do the stuff that, literally, the stuff that I'm teaching you is stuff that I do that used to struggle with this, and I got so sick and tired of it biting me in the butt.

So what I did is I started busting up in and just solving things. Just get in there, forget it, man. The pain of not doing anything about it is way more painful because it just builds and festers, right?

So you think that you're, you're doing okay by procrastinating and not solving the problem. And unfortunately, what you're gonna find out is in the future, this thing is gonna bite you in the butt.

You hear me say that phrase a lot 'cause I hate it. I've, this business is built on me being bit in the butt too many times.

Boy, that just sounds really awfully weird. So make sure that you're setting up those, those steps that you need to maintain consistency in your leadership, even if it's just for you.

How do I consistently have the same types of tough conversations? How do I consistently praise people for things that they need praise for? How do I consistently walk through my team and get a pulse of what's going on?

How do I consistently push culture and, and call out the, the good aspects of culture and attack the bad things of culture?

How do I consistently peace, peace piece, look through your business and discover what needs to be done, right?

If you are self-aware, if you know, and you're getting quality feedback from healthy people, healthy people, that will always be my caveat.

Don't get feedback from unhealthy people. It won't be worth it. It'll be worth what you paid for. Get healthy people to tell you how you're doing, how it's going.

You'll be blown away at how you'll begin to set great consistency.

If we have great consistency, and we can go back to the, the, the part that I talked about in the beginning by having the, the team being able to anticipate you and imagine what your workplace is gonna look like.

Imagine what the culture's gonna look like when there is great predictability, right? When they, there's a predictable environment.

All of the great aspects of the consistency, the communication, the team working with each other, well, the productivity, all those aspects are gonna increase like crazy.

Now, there's a couple of episodes that I would love for you to go back and listen to that are in this vein that I really think is gonna help you to accomplish this.

The first one is episode 422, which is a disciplined inner dialogue. That's where we talk about the importance of consistency when battling your limiting beliefs with your truths. Super powerful, super important.

So wherever we are with these struggles, we need to say, you know, how do we get back to the balance, the balance of truth, the balance of consistency.

Another great episode is episode 402. It's the leadership success path. This is where we explore three levels of leadership success path and learn how to transform our beliefs, our behaviors, and our results. Super powerful.

So we do that by focusing on consistency that you can help your team achieve their goals and be successful.

So, two powerful episodes that you should go back and listen to all around this concept, this idea.

So folks, consistency isn't just about doing the same thing over and over again. I know that it seems simplistic.

That's all. You just keep doing the same thing. It's not about that. It's about awareness. It's about being a beacon of reliability to your team. It's about setting clear expectations.

It's about providing a sense of security. When you do this to your team, when you do this, you'll be blown away about how much fear just dissipates about, you know, how team members being unsettled just kind of goes away.

So when you commit to consistency in your leadership, you're not just managing, which I hate, you're empowering, you're inspiring, you're, you're guiding your team toward greatness.

These are the things that you want. But remember, it's the small consistent actions over time that lead to monumental results.

Your team being able to anticipate you, frees them up, challenges them to take risks, causes them to settle down and not be focused on fear so they can keep pushing forward so you stay consistent so they can stay consistent as you do, you can watch as the trust and the performance just goes ballistic on your team.

So bust your butt on this. Sit down, give it time, you know, give it quality time, get to the right information and start leading strong and start leading with integrity in this process.

Be consistent. All right folks, that's all the time that we have for you today. Hopefully this is helpful.

We want you to take this information, change your leadership, change your business, change your life, and join us on the next episode.