We have often heard leaders talking about mantras of a successful professional life – Hard work, talent, communication skills, diplomacy and many more. Obviously all of them are correct and we must listen to them. However, one thing that drives all of the others mantras of a successful career is – CONSISTENCY. It can take different forms depending on our roles in the organization, but fundamentals remains the same – Be consistent. Let’s see in some more detail.
- Consistency for all professionals – All of us, irrespective of our roles, are supposed to do few things without fail on a consistent basis. It can be as simple as “Replying to our emails”. Most of us do not realize this that how the sender feels if we sit on her/his emails without even acknowledging that we have seen their email. The minimum that we can do is to at least acknowledge the email and give a comfort to the sender that we would be sending the request information soon. You cannot imagine that if you make this simple change in your professional life and follow this consistently, how popular you can become in an organization. You would be branded as a very reachable, dependable and humble person and it would take greater heights in the organization.
- Consistency for technical professionals – What was a niche yesterday will become a commodity today and out-dated tomorrow. This is the beauty of technological change and nobody can stop it from happening. The best we can do is to keep changing ourselves consistently. Keep a track of new skills emerging, read and learn about them, attend trainings and certification programs, participate in communities, connect with the subject matter experts on these skills and more importantly do all these consistently. By doing all this, you would stay relevant in an organization and be prepared for the next big change.
- Consistency for Business Development professionals – No doubt that business development is a daunting task, especially for the commoditized services and solutions. Apart from all your skills, what will matter most here is being consistent. It can be in the form of reaching out to all your existing and new contacts regularly, doing constant follow-ups, connecting with them on all the special occasions, be physically present in your target organizations on a regular basis and doing constant research and inputs gathering. Many times, the difference between a successful and unsuccessful professional is the level of consistency they exhibited in their work.
- Consistencies for Managers – No wonder Managers are a worried lot always. They are always stressed with pressing project needs, customer requirements, team handling and demands of their growing up kids. I have found very few managers in my professional life who are able to handle all the things appropriately on a consistent basis. Most often or not, one or other thing is always missed out and they are seen attending courses of time management and stress management. What I have not seen is anybody doing a “Being consistent” program for these people, who actually need it the most.
This list can go on and on. But before you decide to jump out of my blog, I need to finish this with my final remarks start with doing 2-3 things consistently and they grow the list. You may decide to reply to your emails consistently, come to office on time consistently or read my blogs consistently. Best of Luck !
Disclaimer – The views expressed in this blog are purely of the author.
