As many of you know during the years that I was a new car dealer I also refereed Division I NCAA college basketball.
As a division I NCAA official I was required to attend the NCAA clinic held each fall just prior to the kick off of the basketball season. The purpose of those clinics were primarily to cover something called “points of emphasis” and to go over the new rules for the upcoming year.
“Points of Emphasis” means that during the previous year there was a rule in place that the officials did a lousy job of calling. It could be something as simple as “palming the ball” or a little more complex like a “block/charge foul.”
In those meetings that all Division I NCAA officials are required to attend, every Division I NCAA college basketball coach is also required to attend. I hope you can get a visual on this unique gathering. You have college basketball officials and college basketball coaches in the same room. The term “interesting” is an understatement.
What do you think is the number one complaint that college basketball coaches have about college basketball officials? I’m thinking you probably got it right. It’s the lack of “consistency.”
What do you think the number one complaint is that your sales staff has about sales management? Got that one right too. “Consistency.” As a matter of fact, it would not matter what department or business you might be in. The number one complaint from all subordinates about management is the lack of consistency. Being consistent is about having processes and procedures that you believe in. The trick in management is to be consistent in demanding high standards, consistent in achieving high quality, and to reach such ends using methods that oftentimes requires flexibility, reassessment, change, etc. which can cloud the issue of being consistent.
Even with some flexibility in the equation, a leader has to be able to display consistency. When a Leader is consistent people can depend on them. That leads to trust, which leads to amazing results.
However let me caution you. There is good consistency and bad consistency. If you have really bad management techniques or bad processes you may be consistently getting it wrong.
Good consistency doesn’t require a major overhaul, but must be tweaked daily. Bad consistency not only requires a major overhaul but it may require a total change in habits and if change doesn’t take place then the next step may require changing people.
If you think of companies you enjoy doing business with you will find a common thread of consistency. McDonalds, Chick-fil-a, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, FedEx to name a few.
You may not like everything about them, but when you compare them to their competitors they win hands down when it comes to consistency.
So, to its core, consistency is really important. It’s important for you and it’s important for those around you. I try to be consistent by sharing simple, but effective ideas with you each week.
That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs