Is consistency important?

[Catherine Harwood]

I am curious to know what others think.
How important is consistency when it comes to employee engagement?
I am going to talk to an MD next week who finds he has a challenge around ensuring 'consistency of communication' within his business.
If communication at its heart is designed to engage employees in the business strategy, then surely it is intention and values, not words that is the message that needs to be repeatedly demonstrated over and over.
The more I think about this, the more I wonder if the whole concept of employee engagement needs to be turned on its head so that it's the wholehearted, authentic and visibly demonstrated engagement of leaders that is the key.
Interested to hear your thoughts ...

[Terrence Seamon]

Catherine,
When I read, "The more I think about this, the more I wonder if the whole concept of employee engagement needs to be turned on its head so that it's the wholehearted, authentic and visibly demonstrated engagement of leaders that is the key," I thought that you would enjoy this blog entry by Judy McLeish.

Terry

[Varadarajan]

Catherine,

People will follow what you Do , will relate to Who you are and not What you Say.

So the whole notion of communication and the consistency of communication is a small piece - but an important one - of the whole puzzle.
On two occasions with two different companies, i have observed that a Change of Heart / Change of style by the Leader and then by a few critical members of the Senior mangement team made a huge difference to the communication .
The first important or foundational work is , Alignment. Leaders who communicate have to demonstrate thought/ Word/ Action are in synch.. ( Kind of 'Walk the Talk '). Once that is in place, the consistency can be looked at . Without alignment , the consistency will not produce great impact .

As I write this , I am reminded of 'Ethos, Pathos and Logos' that Stephen Covey talks about in the art of effective communication .. I can expand on this , but I have a feeling you will be familiar with this topic.
Have a good meeting and tell us how it was once you are done .

[Skip Reardon]

Certainly, communication (any communication) is important to foster a degree of engagement...but consistency (along with integrity) rank right up there too. Without consistency, employees are left to wonder whether what was just communicated is real, meaningful and purposeful.

Consistency also implies repetition....repetition leads to learning new things, replacing non-productive attitudes and habits with new habits ...

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

[Mike Healy]

Catherine

Whenever I have heard a Managing Director state a desire for consistency of message it is usually related to a need/desire to exert some degree of control. The need for control often springs from dissatisfaction with approaches being taken towards customers, costs or some other activity where things should have been done better. This results in the MD feeling that the right message needs to be sent out in order for ALL employees to use the tactics/behaviours that get the greatest benefit to the company.( not the same thing as engagement)

I would first ask what has happened that has caused him to feel he needs "consistency of communication" . Better to get clarity on the problem first before devising a solution. Once you work out what the solution might be then you need to work on the methods used to win hearts and minds to get employees to engage with the solution. Different folks will need different approaches to get them to buy into the same solution

[Catherine Harwood]

Thanks all for your offerings and advice. Post meeting I am left with more questions running.
So, this guy appears to get it and has completely changed his leadership style ... but not his heart. The 'challenge around consistency' is that others in the business are testing him out continually.
He's doing loads of face to face communication, delivering the same values aligned message, and empowering and engaging his employees in the vision but only because he knows cognitively that it's the best thing to do 'for the business' and to increase the bottom line. The irony is that it appears to be working. But I can't see how this is really any shift forward from the old fashioned hierarchical top down style of leading. Where are the business leaders who have got beyond the notion of employees as a commodity that can make them wealthy?