Stop Losing Great People: How Consistency Fuels Employee Retention and Team Accountability

We hear from so many business owners who are struggling with high turnover, low morale, and teams that just aren't clicking.

And so often the real problem isn't the product, the service, or the people. It's the culture.

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Every week we sit here in the studio and Chrissy puts up with my crap and we talk about business subjects. I always say we start the episode with me saying something stupid. You usually laugh about that. You give me a similar look to that. Some theme music comes on, and this week we're going to talk about consistency.

Oh.

Surprise. Big surprise. It's going to be really consistent. Stay tuned. She's the CEO.

He's the marketing and operations guy.

If it's broken, you need the business fix.

Oh.

So what's going on that you're excited about?

So our daughter's home from Carnegie Mellon, and now we're back in school.

So you have a family again.

I do. The band is back together, and now we're doing all the school things, and I'm probably gonna hate it.

Do you now regret missing them?

No, I don't regret missing, but we're in senior year, and so now it's like everything is the first or the last of the firsts. So it's like the last time we're going to camp for launch point. The last time she has her first day of school. The last time they're gonna drive away together and go to school together for the first time in the year. It's the last fall play, the last spring musical.

You don't have these marked down or anything, do you?

I do. They're in my calendar. So I don't see grew up not.

Being there because it's the first last.

Don'T do it, or the last first. Can't. Can't mess it up.

No.

Got to be there. I don't want to be like, well, remember when you missed things when I was a sophomore? Yeah, but I was there when you were a senior. I got it together, so.

Interesting.

Yeah. What about you?

Some side projects? Yeah, there's some. Obviously I enjoy two wheels.

Yes.

So something involving then that and then. Plus, we're starting to work on a side project with the business fix here in terms of us speaking about culture to People. So that I. I'm super excited about that. That's. I mean, we're already having fun with it. We have fun in here. We do some. You don't scream? I don't hear the screams. At least until you get in your car.

No, I just cry in my car. It's all good.

Well, once again, you consistently do that. And we're talking about how consistency is your company culture.

Yes.

It was interesting because we talked about last week how there's there with relationships in the business, there can be some favoritism, which is not consistent.

No.

And it's not just a good practice. It is a fundamental driver of everything in your organization.

Yeah.

To me, I have my reasons why I'm consistent, besides just the fact that I'm mildly obsessive compulsive. And, I mean, I've eaten the same exact breakfast for, I think I'm on like 12, 13 years now.

Nice. Now I know why we don't have breakfast meetings.

Correct? Correct. No. I'll have second breakfast so that we can. If you ever want to.

I want a hobbit. Okay.

Yeah. If you ever want to have a breakfast meeting, let me know because we'll have second breakfast.

Okay.

No problem. I obviously don't skip many meals. Why is. Why is consistency important from your perspective on this?

Yeah, so I think it's. It's not just. I think oftentimes with consistency, we're like, it's about product consistency. It's just about what we do.

Does it come off the line the same?

Everything's the same. But no, I mean, it's deeper than that. It's how your values show up everywhere. So from how you lead meetings to how you treat people to how you treat your team, how you show up for your clients, consistency is everything. Predictability in those things builds trust, and trust is what creates safety. And safety creates a psychological safety culture. So you continue to move forward, you can innovate, you can do hard things when everybody trusts one another and you know that there's predictability in how you're going to show up at work and how your boss is going to show up at work and how you're going to show up for your clients. So I like consistency. It makes me happy.

What do you have for breakfast?

I actually change it up all the time, but I know I'm going to have breakfast. So knowing that I'm going to have it or knowing where I'm going to have it is what helps me. So I think when your people know what to expect not just their job description, but in how they'll be treated, they can exhale. And so when your people feel safe and they feel like they can do their jobs, they contribute, they create, and they thrive.

I, it's funny, I, I wholeheartedly agree with that. Because if people realize if you consistently do the same things, if someone screws up and you consistently come in and say, hey, you screwed up, what do we need to do to fix this? They're going to be willing to take those chances.

Yeah.

If one time you scream at them, the next time you get grumpy with them, the next time you're like, oh, you know, that's, that's okay, we'll go ahead and fix this. And if they have no idea if Jekyll or Hyde is going to show.

Up, you're a pendulum. But back and forth, right?

They, they're, they're not going to take risks. They're not going to do things. And that is, to me, the thing that I see with that is that is what creates that, that I'm going to do just enough to not get yelled at. Culture. They aren't going to move things forward.

They're.

They're not going to do it. You get to watch this a lot.

I do.

I always, every episode, when I, when I say you get to do this a lot, you're like, I do. And you say that so modestly and politically correctly. I find it hilarious because I'm not.

Telling you when it goes well. I'm telling you when it doesn't go well, just like I do.

So, I mean, what do you see when, like when you see consistency? When you, I mean, you. Because, you know, in working with other companies, you see times, you know, the clients that you guys have. Yeah. That are. This is. If A happens, B happens.

Yeah.

Then you know the companies where if A happens, B may happen, D may happen. Or Z.

Yes.

How does the, how do you see that consistency shape that culture?

So consistency is culture.

Sure.

Just mic drop. All right, so period.

Are we done?

No, we can be. So I don't care how pretty your mission statement looks on the wall, if your people experience something different day to day, that's your real culture. So when leaders are consistent in their values, their follow through, how they treat people, it builds that trust and predictability, like we've said is safety. People do not grow in chaos. All right? You may thrive in chaos as a business leader or as a business owner, but most of your people are not going to be able to grow in chaos. So when Inconsistency creeps in. That's when you see folks starting to shut down. They get defensive, they're not willing to take risks. They check out entirely. Culture isn't built in the big moments. It's shaped in those small, everyday moments that kind of keep us moving forward. It's the everyday signals. And those signals better match the message that you have. And you do that with consistency.

Yes, 100%.

Yeah.

Like, as you go through something like that, like there's the confusion, the distrust, the. Am I getting Jekyll or Hyde?

Yeah. The COVID your butt behavior. Yeah. Your team doesn't know what to expect. Like, what mood is that person in? Oh, the weather's warm. They're going to be nice. It's raining. They're going to be a jerk. Like.

One thing that I, that I want to go back to. You mentioned the mission statement on the wall.

Yeah.

I see so many times where people have this mission statement.

Here are our core values. Consistency, integrity, trust. No.

Correct. And I mean, I don't know if you've seen those. The demotivational posters.

Yes.

I think I showed you one of them where it's teamwork. None of us is as dumb as all of us. I see so many mission statements where it is the fancy poster on the wall and that is it. Because no one believes it. It's the values they want to have.

Yeah.

But it's not the ones that they do have.

Yeah.

And it's so funny, when you said that, it just triggered that with me. I'm like, oh my gosh. Because. Yeah. It shows that when you lack the consistency, like what are some areas where you think. Like, you see that damage ripple effect. Yeah.

So, I mean, it's confusion, it's distrust. Once you lose, just once you lose trust, you can't PowerPoint your way back into it. You cannot fix it that way. Like, it's gonna take time. So that ripple effect's really real. So clients feel it, turnover spikes, People stop taking risks. They stop coming up with new innovative ideas. They just, they come into work and they're like, eh, I'm here, I showed up, I did my time, I'm going home. And again, we talk about not being hostages. You've got hostages in your business when you don't have consistency.

100%.

Yeah. And then you're no longer leading your damage control. Do you really want to damage control every day?

Yeah. No, you're. You're not leading, you're managing the fires when they fall short in the consistency. Yeah, I See it all the time. Because once again, I'll go to the mission statement. You see the mission statement. You do, and you read it, and then you. You can literally stand in the room where the mission statement is. And I've been in businesses where you look around and you're like, I don't see this anywhere. You see it on the wall, but you don't see it anywhere else. What are the most visible areas where you're like, oh, the statement is pretty, but it's only in that room.

So there are three things where inconsistency shows up the most. And I think it is how we treat our people, how we give feedback, and how we make decisions. Yeah.

Going back to our last episode.

Yeah.

Relationships in the workplace. Do you think there's inconsistency there?

Oh, an extreme amount. I mean, and you can take it not from even relationships, but from favoritism. So when favoritism creeps in, we make exceptions. Without transparency, trust erodes fast. It just goes away. Nothing will erode trust faster than being inconsistent and making exceptions for people as opposed to just saying, you know, this is the decision that we've always had. This is a decision that we have to make. I don't like it, but this is. It is what it is. So if you start making exceptions for people, especially if they're toxic or because you're afraid to have a conversation with someone who's toxic, that's a problem. That's not consistency. When feedback's inconsistent, people get praised constantly. And then there's somebody else that's like. But that person, you know, well, you're wonderful. You walk on water. You're a jerk. You can't do your job. They do exactly the same thing.

Yeah.

They may be having exactly the same behavior. I mean, again, that inconsistency, it's going to cause resentment. People are going to walk on eggshells.

It's funny you say that, because that takes me back. My favorite saying. If I'm walking into a shitstorm, I want to know which way the wind's blowing.

Yes.

And if. Even if you screwed something up, if you know where to hold your umbrella.

Yeah.

You can get through the storm if it's inconsistent. You are now in the poop Tornado.

Yes. Yes. And if you want to kill initiative have inconsistent decision making.

Oh, 100%.

Yeah. Keep shifting the goalposts so people don't know where they're supposed to be or what targets they're supposed to hit. That damage is low. Engagement, internal silos. You get a culture of I am my own captain because I can't figure out which way the wind's blowing, so I'm just going to blow this way. That's a problem.

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I'll give you a few seconds to go to the website while we get ready to get back to the show. We've. We've talked about some of the negatives with this employee development, employee feedback.

Yeah.

How. How does being consistent there help? Because, I mean, we. We realize that this can be the thing that kneecaps your entire business if you're inconsistent. What, Rather than doing something just because it's it, bad things happen. What are the good things that can happen when you are consistent?

So consistency, especially in employee development, is a long game.

Yes.

It's not. It's not a short Runway. And it is saying to your employees, you know, we see you, we've invested in you, and we're playing the long game with you. We want you to be here in our organization and continue to grow. And when you do that and you're consistent, it builds loyalty, it builds motivation. It also normalizes that growth. And so what I would also tell you, inconsistency, is there are going to be times where people screw up, they're going to make mistakes. And so it includes enabling that person to feel empowered even when they make a mistake, that you know that you can grow. It's like, you know, let's give feedback that's regular balance, safe to receive. So when people get it, they're not fearing it. If they know it's coming, they seek it out. And I think that's really important, especially with employee development, especially when we're looking at things in an organization that require innovation. Because oftentimes with innovation, there is a component of failure. Almost always with innovation, there's a component of failure.

If there's not, you aren't innovating.

Exactly. And so it's really important that you Create that safe space for them. And I mean, there's been a lot of connotations around safe spaces.

She's about to say, do we need to set up the crying lounge?

No, it's not about the crying couch. It's not about the corner to just kind of. It's not about the self care corner, whatever. It's really about, you know, making sure that development is for everyone. It's not for the chosen few. Feedback is for everyone. Empowering them to make decisions, empowering them to also understand that it is okay that things are not always going to work out. Failure is a part of the process. I mean, fail. Sometimes we talk about first attempt in learning, making sure that we do it fast. Like, let's fail fast. So it's really important. It's how the organization breathes. Consistency and feedback gets the team to level up together.

Yeah, no, it's. I like that fail piece because to me, I always try and approach it when someone fails. I'm like, okay, what do we need to do to fix this? Yeah, they know they screwed up. I don't need to tell them.

No, no, I don't.

When. When they come to you with this. Oh, right. Oh, oh, oh.

You're like, I don't know what I did.

Right, right, right. When you approach them with. Yeah. How do you make them feel safe? Like you said, there's the couch. We're not putting a couch in the studio for people. We're not putting the safe space couch in the studio.

No, it's not big enough.

No, no, it's really not. We did a nice job of making the room look decent sized in here, but it's cozy. So how do you give them that safe space for the employees?

I mean, it's a step. I mean, part of it too is you've got to acknowledge that you've got inconsistent practices potentially. And so it's like, how do we make them consistent? So that's the first part. And reminding yourself that consistency is culture, it's leadership. So first it's really important to listen. I would have you listen to your employees. You can't fix what you won't face. So asking employees what's working. When we go into an organization, that's the first thing that we're asking. You know, we're asking the business leader, we're asking their team members what's working, what's not working, and where do they feel like they're getting mixed messages? Because that can sometimes be a big issue in helping us address where's the Breakdown and the next thing, as someone who's a perfectionist and wants to do all the things all at once, this is the challenge. I think you might have some of these challenges too. Is picking one area to fix first one. Cuz that help I want more. No, you got to pick one. Ouch. Because that's what helps you with consistency. So maybe it's how feedback happens, maybe it's how team meetings are run. Maybe you should listen to a couple more podcasts of the business fix. You can get some of these one solution things. So it creating a rhythm, creating expectations gives you follow through and it gives you the cadence to be able to move forward with consistency. And last thing I would remind leadership is that consistency isn't about perfection. As a recovering perfectionist, it's important. Consistency isn't about perfection, it's about integrity. So when you mess up, own it. That builds more trust than pretending you didn't.

To go back.

Huh?

You said listen.

Yes.

And to me there's two pieces to that. First off, so a you get their feedback. The other thing that I have found it when I am listening, it is much more difficult to stick my foot in my mouth. It when you're listening to someone else, you're processing.

Yes.

You're taking that time to be like how did I handle this last time? Instead of going with this emotional gut reaction, it buys you that time in order to look at that.

Yes. And if you are a chronic interrupter of not being able to listen effectively, take notes, just write it down. That may distract you enough to be able to sit there and listen. Because oftentimes what I'm noticing with newer managers is it becomes this defensive posture 100%. So if the employee starts to say, well I want to because there's going to be a reply, it should be a dialogue. And if you don't have the ability to listen as a manager, when somebody is giving you feedback that you may not agree with, you need to take notes, do something so that you can show that you are paying attention. I will tell you there are times where emotionally you may go up and down as a manager when you're giving feedback, especially if somebody's looking at you going nuh, I don't do that. But you do. And you're like, it's not a debate. We can have a discussion, but just kind of walk through the process. Make sure that you understand what the person is saying. Because oftentimes the emotion of what you hear isn't the text of what was said to you.

I totally Agree. Totally agree. Can you innovate? Like, can you actually innovate if there's not trust there?

Nope.

As I say, I'm a hard no on this one.

No. It's like trying to build a trampoline on quicksand. You like that?

You're taking my analogy job away from. I know, I feel, I feel I'm, I know.

I'm taking away your consistency.

Next week is just going to be Chrissy by herself because she no longer needs me on the show. It's not true. No, I, I wholeheartedly agree with that. It really is.

Yeah. I mean, you've got to be able to. And people know what won't change. Like, your values are not changing, your integrity isn't changing, your support isn't changing. They are freer to explore. So if you do not have consistency, you're not going to get the innovation that you need. I mean, safety is born from consistent leadership, not chaotic inspiration.

Correct. Yeah. That's why so many visionaries have a difficult time in those leadership roles.

Yeah. So I've got some operations perspective questions for you. So let me buckle up. Seriously, because it's been, it's been that kind of day.

Yes, it has.

How does consistency and processes and procedures directly impact efficiency?

It's funny, I, I, I look at, like, restaurants are a great example of this because we see this.

Yeah.

Look at McDonald's, look at, look at Chipotle. You walk in there and you're going to have a different experience because there's different people working there. But 90 to 95% of that experience is identical in those places because there are, there's operational consistency from one to the next to the next.

Yes.

The person that trained those people got trained by one person.

Yeah.

And it's the same person that trained someone in Chicago. It's the same person that trained someone. I mean, there's this network that they are all getting trained the same way on the same procedures. So you get that same experience no matter where you go. And that to me, it's that productivity that allows it to go from. If a McDonald's in, let's say Wadsworth says, hey, we think we found a different way to do this that is more efficient, that can go up the chain and they look at it and they say, oh, yes. And then once again, it can go right back out to everyone else seamlessly because everyone's doing things the same way. That, to me, is that, that where those efficiency gains can be made because once again, it's easy to adapt to everyone.

Yeah. And I would say consistency has levels. So, you know, you've got the Ritz Carltons of consistency and that level of service, and then you've got, you've got McDonald's, you've got different types of organizations. Consistently mediocre is a thing. And that's okay.

100%. The fact that you said Ritz Carlton and McDonald's in the same, is that great. I mean, but when you look at them operationally.

Yeah.

You're going to walk in the same thing at every single one of them.

All right, so let's talk about inconsistencies. So when they panic or laugh as they arise in daily operations, what are the immediate challenges that you see for managers who are trying to manage workflow and accountability when things are not consistent?

It's interesting because I like. It starts with that culture piece like we talked about, that if, if it's not done consistently across the board, your customers, your clients, your product, everything is going to be inconsistent and that costs money. If eight out of 10 widgets come off the line, good, you got an 80% hit rate.

Yeah.

That 20% is probably really expensive. In the same point, it's that consistency. If I, I have found I can always tell the consistency of leadership in a business when I'm in there dealing with the customer facing side of things.

Yeah, so true.

You see it all the like, for us, our core value is success as a shared thing. I treat all, all of our employees like, if they're successful, I'm going to be successful.

Exactly.

And you know what? They treat everything that they touch the same way. If I treated them as just do your damn job, they would just do their job. Which in some ways, okay, they would get it done. But there may be some bubble gum and duct tape involved.

Yes.

And that's not what we want. And those. So it's, it's that building that consistency in how you do it goes top down.

So what are some of the frameworks and tools that you use to build consistency or you would suggest people should use? If you're a small business owner navigating the world of marketing or looking to establish yourself as an industry expert, you already know the power of a great.

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Back to the show.

Talking to a company about outlining policies. You're welcome.

Yeah, we love documentation.

Documentation. Not everything needs to be documented, but I think you, you need to. If you have core values, if you have a mission statement, those need, like, I. I hate it when people, they talk about a mission statement. This is going to be our mission statement. It wasn't until, like, year four of me being in business that mine became apparent to me.

Yeah, you're figuring it out, right? That's okay.

Your mission statement should be something that you figured out and then be like, oh, this is what we do and this is what we do well, we are going to lean into this.

Yes.

Because if you have something that you do and do well, you're consistent at it, and you can then lean into that and really go nuts with it.

Yeah.

Because it's easy. Because it comes naturally. The in. I see inconsistency in it when people are like, hey, we're going to treat everyone like rainbows. And I know. I see you trying to just bust up laughing. Can you imagine if you saw me having that mission statement?

No, I kind of want to.

I mean, you know what's at the end of that rainbow? And it is not a pot of gold. I do not have a rainbow outlook on things. I want people to be successful, though. I really, truly want that. I realize, though, that sometimes at the end of the rainbow, there is a big pile of poop.

Yeah.

So I'm not going to. I mean, that's not going to work as my mission statement. So therefore, if that was my mission statement, I wouldn't be consistent with it.

No, no. And our thing at AUI and Clarity is we have a shared purpose statement. So we provide peace of mind by simplifying the complicated. There is nothing in it about sunshine or rainbows. This is going to be hard. We're going to do a lot of different things. It's probably never going to be the same any day. But what we will be consistent in is the purpose of why we're doing it.

And to me, I love that, too, because in your business, a lot of the things that you guys do suck. But the end result Is good.

It is.

It's like we're. It's like going to the gym. I've gotta. I've gotta move heavy stuff around here. But when you look in the mirror after a year of doing that and flex and you're like, hey, are the. Are those abs coming for a visit? It makes that difference. So what you guys do isn't always the fun stuff.

No, but consistency is reps. You got to get your reps in.

And the result of it is that. And you guys are very consistent in how you present things and how you work with things. There's not two different comp. Two companies will have different situations, but they can be handled the same way, and they can be handled across the board in that manner. And you're going to get a good result when you do that. Are we to the collaborative part?

I think we are done a good job. Look at us being consistent, following our framework.

Imagine that when you see. I mean, I talked about, like, I can instantly tell when there is consistency and inconsistency in a business.

Yeah.

What are some telltale signs for you that when you walk in the door and you look around the room and you're like, oh, I know what's going on here. These people aren't consistent.

Yeah. Number one's whiplash leadership.

Yeah.

So when employees are constantly saying, are we still doing that? Wait, didn't we just say the opposite last week? Like, red flag. So, you know, leaders are setting new priorities without closing the loop on the last ones. It's exhaustion, it's frustration, and it's disengagement for your team.

I've seen that. And the other thing that I've seen, too, is I worked with an owner that. I mean, one week it's one thing, and the next thing it's something totally, totally different. And, I mean, it was a whipsaw effect.

And did they explain what was going on?

No, it was just. This is what I said. And you're like, okay, if I'm managing a large group of people and I have no idea what direction we're supposed to be going.

Yeah, yeah. Unequal accountability. That's another one. Oh, gosh. So, you know, always say, culture lives in how we enforce the unspoken rules. It's not the same for everyone. It's chaos in disguise.

And I've seen that, too. There's. I've. I remember there was one person that could do no wrong. We used to joke that that person had photos of the owner in a compromising position because, like, there's. There's something there just because it was so inconsistent.

Yeah.

Someone in an equal position other side of the company could go, I mean, an eighth of an inch off center, and all of a sudden it is blow up time. Someone else blows something up and they're.

Like, no big deal. Right? Yeah. And that will get you sued fast. Inconsistency.

Yes.

How you deal with situations problematic. Then there's mixed messaging. It goes with inconsistency, too. Yeah. So, I mean, you've got a lot of different things. Managers deliver something else entirely. Marketing says one thing, leadership says another. Nobody's doing the things that they said they were going to do. Everybody's doing their own thing. When you're not aligned, it breeds skeptical narcissism within the organization. Then you're like, what are we doing work here?

When you've got one department headed one direction and another apartment, another department headed a different direction, you're like, wait a minute here. Yeah. Another one that I've. Silent meetings, side conversations, all those other things. When you'd see a group of people go into a room and you see the last person close the door, and as they're closing the door, they're looking out the door like, is anyone seeing what's going on here? As soon as there's that. Oh, does that start the speculation engine?

Yeah.

Oh, that thing is. And I mean, it's. It. It doesn't start like your car starts and goes at an idle. No, this is starting the speculation engine with the foot to the floor, just full tilt right to the rev limiter.

It does. Silence isn't loyalty. It's usually fear or fatigue.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. What are they saying about me? Because I don't know about you, but my brain goes to the worst place.

Yeah. They're talking about a million miles an hour.

They're talking about me.

We're going under. There's a problem.

Right.

Everything's. Yeah.

Right.

What's going on? When no one speaks up in meetings, there's a slack threat eventing later. That's a problem. Again, that silent meeting side conversation. It's not. You don't want that to be your reality. People need clarity to feel courageous. So if they don't have clarity, they're going to be silent.

Is that where the name came from?

A lot of. I feel like we talk about clarity a lot. Yeah, yeah. Clear.

Makes sense.

Makes sense. Other thing on the HR side, you know, onboarding versus the reality gap. So when new hires walk in and what they were told in the interview doesn't match what they were sold, they don't feel supported. They disengage. Yeah. They leave. Like, when people are like, yeah, we have a problem, people don't come back after lunch. I'm like, really? How do you interview them? What do you tell them about what their day is going to look like? And then they come in and it's nothing like they expected. You need to have a healthy dose of reality and what your organization looks like when you are selling it to other people who want to work there. Don't tell them it's all sunshine and rainbows. If it's hurricanes and tornadoes. Be honest.

The example that I give of that was there was a place where I'd started and they said, we have a very extensive training program. And it was 40 hours of videos from the manufacturer.

Oh, that's fantastic.

Correct. And I was like, I can you just give me the pillow so I can sleep through most of these?

Seriously, how many people actually listen to all of it? They didn't.

That was the training scenario. That was. That was their extensive training program. They're like, we invest a lot in.

Training and we have no idea why. Nobody understands what our product is or things keep breaking. We're clueless.

Correct. My favorite.

Yes.

And you worded this, but I love this is fire drill fatigue.

Yes.

If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. I worked at a place for a very, very short period of time where everything was an emergency. And this is where I learned how toxic this saying was. Is when people say, you need to be like a duck. Have you heard that one before?

Yes.

Where ducks, they're very calm on top of the water, but under the water, they're paddling furiously.

I want to be a duck.

Right. I don't want to be a duck. I told them to duck off.

That's also. That's anxiety.

I'm just like this. So you want me to look calm even though the sky is falling? No, no.

That's where burnout lives.

100. And that's exactly what happened to me in a period of about four months. They completely burned me out. And I was like, no, we have. And the problem was, is it was them not addressing the issue. We had issues with how things were being scheduled, which caused the employees to. They said, you need to look like the duck. And I'm like, you should duck because I'm going to hit you.

Yeah. That can cause issues. I mean, you have workplace injuries, you have burnout, you have high turnover.

Oh, there was going to be some injuries there.

Yeah. You can't you can't always be in triage. It just you are most organizations, I mean, there are firefighters, but like most of us are not firefighters. We weren't built to be firefighters all the time. We can't live in crisis. We can't live in chaos. We need consistency to be able to do our jobs correct.

You need a person that can be the firefighter when needed. If that person is busy all the time, you done messed up.

Yes.

So do I mean, should we go over the key takeaways on this or should we just end it with that?

No, I think you need to go over them.

Consistency is your culture 100%. If you do not have a consistency, you do not have a culture. And if you do not have a culture, the worst of the worst is going to seep in. That is my whole just full stop take on it.

Yeah.

What's your, what's your one of yours on that?

Inconsistency breeds confusion, distrust and disengagement. So while consistency is culture, inconsistency is not what you want. When leaders waffle play favorites stop leaning in, trust is eroded. And once you've eroded trust, good luck keeping your top performers.

I love that because I said consistency is culture. If there's no consistency, then it leaves room for. And you said inconsistency breeds. And I've got to go back to the last episode that we had about interoffice relationships, people breeding, the confusion, the distrust and disengagement and chaos and in more ways than one.

Yes.

You cannot innovate without a stable foundation. We've talked about this. If people are afraid to make a mistake, you're going nowhere fast. You are just going to get enough done to get today done. And they will hope to serve. When people say survive another day.

No.

Right.

That should never be on your wall.

Are you a deer in the woods?

Survive another day? No. Well, I would say it's really important too. As much as we're, we're laughing about some of this, that consistency is really the small stuff. It's the small stuff that shows who you are. Making sure you're following through, making sure you're giving feedback, making sure that you're listening, paying attention to your employees. And every inconsistency while you're showing up in the small stuff, the inconsistencies in the small stuff sends a message.

Yep.

Yep.

That to me, if you consistently and that sends a message piece if you can, you may not have contact with your customers. If you consistently treat your employees well, guess what? They're going to do for your customers?

Absolutely.

They are going to treat them well.

Yeah.

If you consistently or even inconsistently treat your employees like bags of dirt, guess what?

Exactly. They're paying attention. I think sometimes as business leaders, you think, oh, they're not paying. They just want to be here. They want to make their paycheck and they want to go home. They're paying attention to how they're treated.

Yep. Yep. And they're going to treat other people that way. How do we make this actionable?

How do we make it? Oh, it's easy. So we're going to audit our message versus reality. So we're going to look at, you know, asking ourselves and our team, what do we value? Why do we value showing up here? Why do we come to work every day? How do we need to lead, hire, promote, communicate? So there's that.

It should not include rainbows.

No, no. And we talked about this.

You screwed up.

Yes. So what's working? What's not working? We talked about that earlier. The next one, of course, is pick one place to be rock solid. Pick one thing to start with.

Yes.

Because you cannot be consistent in all things to start when everything's in chaos. So choose the area and give feedback. And the second time that I would say, I'm sure you've got some other ones too, is like creating those leadership checkpoints, holding space with your leadership team and asking them, are we aligned? Because getting people on the same page and creating that consistency takes time. And it's probably going to be repeated over time because we talk about, you know, individuals have to hear a message 10 times before they get it. So when you're on fire, you're on time five. And you're frustrated. You have to remind yourself, okay, I've got five more times to tell this person before they get it. And if they get it before 10, they're a really fast learner. Expect to repeat it at least 10 times.

The fact that you said consistency takes time brings up the, the, the funny thing to me is so many people, like, I treated my employees good today.

Today.

Right, right. And. But they're not. They're like, why didn't they treat. Why weren't they different? Yeah.

Why were they special today?

Right.

Did they do right well?

And it's, to me, it's the, no, I treated them well today. Why aren't they respecting that? Because you've treated them, treated them terribly for five years. Treat them really well for one day does not make up for that.

No. And people whisper expectations.

Yes.

Like we don't tell people what we want. We're not going to be explicit about it. You got to say it out loud. And then after you say what the expectations are, you better model what you mandate. Yes. So you can't ask your team to do things if you're not doing them yourself. I expect everybody to be here on time. Shows up at lunchtime every day. Don't be a jerk. Show up, follow through. You've got to own it and you've got to own it when nobody else wants to own it. You've got to be that person. You've got to start the trend.

If you write something in your company about inter office relationships, you better freaking follow it. Don't go to a Coldplay concert.

No.

Yeah, I'm still stuck on that. What's the first thing? Yeah, someone's gonna walk out into their shop, their office, whatever. What is the one thing that they should look for right off the bat? If they think there's some inconsistency, listen for silence. How do you mean that?

So if your team's gone silent, no questions, no pushback, no engagement, they're not giving you any feedback. That is your first clue that something is off. So it's not always loud. When consistency breaks down, sometimes it shows up with what's happening as withdrawal. So really, to me, if you don't hear anything from your people, you're not consistent because they don't know how to react.

Interesting.

So when people spend more time guessing the rules than doing the work, that's culture and chaos. So now I've got a question for you. All right. Can a business be too consistent?

Yeah, I would say yes. And no is you want to make sure that you are very, very consistent, but you want to be, I guess I would say, flexible enough to react to things. And the thing is, is I guess I would say too many people look at it like, we have this situation, we're going to handle it this way. It doesn't always work with that. It's the, it's. I guess I would say it's the manner in which you're going to handle things.

Yes.

If someone screws up and you say, okay, how do we fix this? If someone screws up in a different way, you're still going to approach this from a how do we fix this Mentality. How you handle that. Each time needs to be probably different because every situation is different. And if it's not different, you probably had the wrong person doing the wrong job. If they screw up the same way Each time. But so to me, to have that flexibility to react differently and handle each problem as an individual. But your reaction should be the same. Your reaction is what needs to be consistent. It can't be arms in the air, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you, blah, blah, blah, blah. It needs to be okay. How do we handle this?

Yes. Don't be too rigid.

No. No. Don't be the two by four.

No. Or too legalistic about it too. Sometimes it's not a religion, it's management. It's okay. Be flexible.

But make sure your attitude is consistent. That is the thing that I want to get to is if you're going to handle this each time as a jerk, at least they know what they're going to do.

So. Right.

If they're going to. I mean, once again, it's walking into the shitstorm. If they know that this is going to come out of the east at 90 miles an hour, they're prepared. They're prepared to know it's going to come out of the east at 90 miles an hour. Don't make it come out of the west at 30. Yeah, yeah.

People will stay in a consistently bad environment too.

Well, they know what to expect.

They know what to expect.

They know what to expect. That. That, once again, that umbrella. They know which way to point the umbrella. That being said, thank you. Again, this always enlightening. And it's one of those things where whenever I walk out of the episodes, we both have good insights on stuff, but sometimes I feel like you're talking to me, like you need to look at this. But that being said, go to business fix dot com. Hit the business fix on social media. Go to the page that we're looking at about having us talk to your business about this. We're excited. We've got some really good stuff in the plans for that next week. We are going to talk about managing emotions in the workplace.

We are.

Yeah. That's because I'm going to cry.

Now.

You all know I'm animated, but you don't realize that I have no emotions. That being said, do us a favor, take care of yourself. If you can, take care of someone else too, we will see you very soon.

Sam.