bcg blog

The Fight For Consistency

I hand the microphone over to the next speaker, relieved to be finished. I step to the side so everyone knows my portion of the clinic is complete. At the request of the coaches in attendance I spoke on installing our motion offense. For forty-five minutes I gave them everything we do to run, adjust, and evaluate our offensive system. 

As I’m thanking the MC for providing me the opportunity to share, a small line of coaches forms along the wall waiting to ask me a question. A few of the questions pertain to our motion offense, a few curious about our defensive approach, and few about our Breakfast Club which I briefly mentioned early in the talk. The interest in the Breakfast Club surprises me a little.

The week following the clinic I received several emails from clinic participants, the majority of which were again enquiring about Breakfast Club. Based on the questions I was receiving, I did a very poor job of explaining the true purpose of Breakfast Club. A few asked what we did or how we organized it, but the vast majority had the same question: how often do you have it?

If I had explained it correctly and related it appropriately to our core values, the answer would’ve been clear because only one answer makes sense when you understand its purpose. Sure, skill development is part of it, sharing the time with your teammates is part of it, but the driving force behind our breakfast club is to establish the discipline to be consistent. We believe consistency is the separating factor between good and great.

At 6:00am, every single day becomes a fight for consistency.

Why Should We Care?
Whether you’re leading high school athletes or middle aged accountants, consistency is a fight. The behaviors that determine the success of our teams are the front ranks. Once a standard is set, the fight for consistency begins. At first, everyone arrives by the set time. Then, someone is late and there are questions to be answered - how will it be handled? Will he be in trouble? If so, how much? If not, why not? What happens if he’s late again?

The most important thing for leaders to understand is that when a standard is violated, everyone is watching - EVERYONE. Each person is checking to see if the violation is going to be confronted or ignored. It’s a critical time for the leader, and the team, because the commitment to consistency is being determined. Address the violation and we stabilize the culture. Ignore the violation and we are telling everyone that the standard is merely a suggestion, at best.

It’s also important to note that addressing substandard behavior does not necessarily equate to punishment. The objective for the leader is to create consistency at the highest standard possible. Often that can be accomplished through intentional language. Simply saying, “That’s not what we do” and having them repeat the task until they do meet the standard is often sufficient.

Most have tired of this moment to moment combat, but it’s the fight leaders must be willing to embrace if excellence is the objective.

REAL TALK - Action Steps
So, what does the fight for consistency consist of for the leader? What do we need to do in order to capitalize on this separating factor? Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

• Clearly Articulate the Standards 
  
  • We can’t hold a standard we aren’t aware of and we can’t consistently address violations to standards that are unclear. Decide on your standards, remove all the words except the ones that are absolutely vital, and say it over and over and over.
    

• Confront or Honor Every Time
  
  • Leaders don’t struggle with this concept in general, they struggle with the ‘every’ part of this concept. The best leaders, with the best cultures, see every opportunity to confront substandard performance as critical. It’s never, ‘Oh, well’. Ironic that it’s the inconsistency of the leader that paves the way for the inconsistency of the team, right?
    

• Embrace the Fight
  
  • It is a fight. The sooner you view it that way, the better you will be equipped to show up the way your team needs you to. If you feel yourself starting to allow the standard to slip either hire people that will hold it or stop leading. We don’t need anymore teams with low standards that accept inconsistent performance.
    

Bad teams do the important things well, some of the time. Good teams do the important things well, most of the time. Great teams do things well, all the time. The difference isn’t in what they do, it’s in how often they do it.

Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here!