Intensity alone is not sustainable in business; consistency should also be a priority, says Simon Sinek, the author of Start With Why. And from my experience, practising consistency is the key to success.
Picking up from what we discussed last week, in this article I will delve further into how consistency can affect your business, especially in terms of mindset, leadership and innovation.
But before we jump into it, let’s return to the concept Simon Sinek has written about. In short, intensity describes the quick bursts of actions to achieve quick and measurable results. Consistency, on the other hand, describes the regular things you do, but when the results start showing and whether they are measurable is uncertain.
The reason I find this concept fascinating and so important to understand, especially in our fast-changing world, is because I have experienced it in my own business. At the same time, I have seen what happens when other businesses fall into the trap of the intensity mentality.
There really is nothing wrong with intensity but the point is, completely ignoring the consistent things that we must do can be bad for business. Just think of a situation where your people are no longer going to work regularly, no longer completing their regular tasks, and now are focusing only on the quick tasks that achieve short-term goals.
As business leaders, you and I know this would be a disaster. Finance no longer keeping regular track of money coming in and going out, marketing no longer focusing on long-term marketing goals, and product design no longer maintaining and improving products. This would be an absolute nightmare.
Consistency is pretty much like practice and routine. Although it can get repetitive and oftentimes monotonous, some things need to be practised every day. If you want to become the best pianist or a top football player, you need the consistency of perfecting your art.
For business it works the same way. And while consistency affects businesses at the operational level, it affects the people in the organisation at an individual level to an even larger degree. So, here are three elements that can create impact at all levels when paired with consistency.
First, think about mindset of each individual in your organisation. Just like playing music or sports, you need to consistently practise a positive mindset in order to master it.
With practice, consistency is the key. If you were to practice a musical instrument an hour a day, you’ll eventually master it. But if you were to practise intensely the whole day, you might tire and eventually the work becomes less and less enjoyable. I can say the same about mindset -- it could start to feel forced and become something you might end up resenting.
But the thing about mindset is, it is contagious. Your behaviour and actions are directly influenced by your mindset, so your state of mind usually shows in your actions, affecting those around you.
If you have a negative mindset, your actions would show and this can affect your environment -- and even the people -- around you negatively.
Mindset also affects leadership and innovation. Without practising the right mindset, it will be difficult to remain consistent with leadership and innovation.
Second, leadership, no matter the scale, still requires consistency. Imagine if you were inconsistent in the way you were treating your team. Imagine if you did not give regular feedback to them.
Third, organisations practising innovation need to be consistent. Innovation is not always filled with great ideas and breakthroughs that change the world. You will hit roadblocks and you will fail. If anything, innovation requires the utmost determination and drive to keep going consistently.
But this is why consistency is even more crucial. If Thomas Edison stopped trying after one of the thousand times he failed, we wouldn’t have one of the greatest inventions of all time today -- the light bulb.
Inevitably, consistency affects the overall quality of your business and service. You may say that is common knowledge, even in business, but knowledge still needs to be translated into action.
Many businesses want immediate results and if they doesn’t happen, changes, layoffs and other drastic actions are sometimes taken. We forget to stop and think that if the mechanical parts of a clock did not stay consistent, we would never know the time. For business and everything else, it works the same way.
Arinya Talerngsri is Chief Capability Officer and Managing Director at SEAC (formerly APMGroup) Southeast Asia's leading executive, leadership and innovation capability development centre. She can be reached by email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa
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