Think back to when you were in school. Ever had a teacher you didn’t like? (rhetorical question…) I remember one in particular that I didn’t like, but I respected her. She was consistent. She treated each person according to their current behavior, effort, and performance. She had no favorites and each person was on a level playing field. The benefit to this was that you knew that no matter what you had done in the past, it didn’t carry over into the way she treated you now. Compare this to another teacher I had who would drag up things you had done weeks or even months before. I remember one student getting in trouble for chewing gum and she referenced his behavior
last year in her reason for reacting the way she did. What happens to students when they know you are going to drag up any infraction previously committed? They choose between one of two responses:
1) They shut down and stop caring. They have no motivation anymore to perform because they know they aren’t being supported by their teacher, who is just waiting for them to mess up.
2) They walk on eggshells and perform not for the sake of learning but because they don’t want the teacher to embarrass (etc) them
What happens when those students, who have not been coached well about failure-recovery, but instead about failure avoidance at any cost, enter the workplace?
They become great worker bees who do exactly as they’re told and hope the boss doesn’t yell at them. They don’t create. They don’t challenge. They don’t fail. If they fail, they’re fired. The problem with being a worker bee, of course, is that there are thousands just like you, ready to fill your place when you screw up and leave the hive.
What happens when students have been treated with equity, justice, and consistency?
They fail. Time after time after time. It’s glorious, really. But they keep trying. Each time, they improve. They make changes and try again. Then they succeed. Then they crack through and become truly indispensable to the success of the organization they are working for.
What happens when your boss isn’t consistent? What happens when you’re told one thing and then they demonstrate something else entirely? What happens when you are asked to report problems to your boss but they don’t have time to take your reports? Who gets in trouble?
Inconsistency is the hallmark of poor leadership. Show me inconsistency and I will show you where leadership is sorely lacking. If you find yourself in this position, and I would guess you have at least once in your life, I hope that you will recognize the opportunity in front of you. You have been given a short window of time where you can fill the void left by your superior(s).
Just be ready when they get upset. After all, the Queen doesn’t like when worker drones think for themselves or try to do her job when she isn’t.
