And, here’s a proposition for you: If you want to be taken seriously as a Supervisor or Manager, be Consistent. Be consistent in your manner, your actions, your words, and your standards. (As you can tell I like this subject area.)
Tony Robbins, a motivational speaker, put it this way “It’s not what you do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.” So, as a Supervisor/Manager are you recognized for clear examples of “what GOOD looks like”?
Do you respect all of your employees enough to let your top performers know you recognize their effort and their abilities? And, when it comes to those who are underperforming to their capability, do you have respect for them as an individual such that you will hold them accountable to meet the needs of their position? Consider this, that to tolerate underperformance by some of your staff is to disrespect both those who are meeting and exceeding performance expectations and, those who are underperforming. Be known by those you supervise for being predictable in how you reinforce good performance and how you will react to the underperformance of job-needs and to capability.
Your consistency or inconsistency is recognized by those around you. (I dare you to just ask them.) Yours’ is a demanding role: to get more things done through other people than you could ever produce alone. You are expected to direct and guide a diverse group of people….successfully, along with those other assigned tasks and duties. (That’s all.)
Back to Tony Robbins, I will add a couple of thoughts to Tony’s. (Those (little) things “you do once in a while”, slow down long enough to be sure they are really “little”. It’s been my observation that You and I will be either consistently consistent or we will be consistently inconsistent. I do think it is possible to be selective, like being Vegan. (Where did that come from?) And, Michael Jordon was known as being uncompromising in practicing his basket-shooting skills. Practice is the repetition of a behavior. Do you know what you want to do…like “Mikey”?
So, are you Consistent? What would it take? Are you worth it?