The new year is the season for setting ambitious goals. Declaring aspirations about new skills and new achievements may serve you well. But there’s another approach that may be more accessible and more valuable to you professionally: Pick a couple of things you already know how to do well and that your organization values, and simply aim to do them well more consistently. That increased consistency may be about frequency, about style, about rigor, about listening, about emotions… or anything else that influences your impact on others.
Whatever you contribute when you do something that is especially valued – such as coaching your colleagues, preparing presentations, meeting deadlines, guiding creative thinking… wouldn’t there be a positive ripple effect in your organization if folks got MORE of that at the same level of quality? Wouldn’t clarity, alignment and performance be strengthened if your stakeholders experienced a more consistent, predictable version of you? Consistent behavior – when it is valued behavior — also cultivates trust, reduces misunderstandings and enables safe organizational learning.
Someone once said “Consistency is better than rare moments of greatness.” I fully agree! Where is valuable consistency accessible to you with just a little more discipline?
