Why Care and Consistency Are All You Need to Succees in the Workplace
When you think of what it takes to succeed in the workplace, you may think of the qualities our culture has taught us are most “valued” – things like working long hours, saying yes to projects or responsibilities that are beyond your time capacity, being likeable to all, striving to be seen as brilliant, appearing to be in constant pursuit of career advancement, and the list goes on. People act out these behaviors because they believe they’ll make themselves indispensable to a company. Truthfully, though, becoming indispensable (and in turn being thought of as a high performer) usually requires only two things. Those two things are care and consistency.
CARE
When doom-scrolling social media it is alarmingly common to see people publicly repost what little investment they have in their careers. There are many reasons for this, and there’s no need to pretend that work environments haven’t changed over time in a way that doesn’t prioritize or cater to employee retention. Society has pretty much come to terms with the fact that our chairs won’t get cold if we were to hand in our notice. The effect that feeling less and less cared for by our employers has had is that society has also started to care less and less about that commitment. Doesn’t work out? No big deal – go somewhere else. This should cue up thoughts of the endless LinkedIn news articles that spawned from the devastating effects Covid had on traditional workplace environments, resulting in named trends like “The Great Resignation”, “Quiet Quitting” (or its ugly sister “Rage Quitting”), “Hush Trips”, “Coffee Badging”, and a really fun TikTok trend called “Bare Minimum Monday”.
Regardless of how or why these things came to be, the bar for being considered a good employee has been set staggeringly low. This is true to the point that when someone appears to display any amount of buy-in to their role a leader will act as though their child has taken their first steps right before their eyes. If you asked your nearest leader if this is true, the kneejerk reaction would be to say “of course not, that’s ridiculous, we pay people for doing their job and that’s the expectation.” If you watch it in action it plays out a little bit differently. Throw in that same person not having time and attendance issues? Boy, you’ve got yourself a winner!
Haphazard resumes, low percentages for applicants showing up to an interview, leveraging offers for the highest bidder, and regular HR roundtable discussions about how to drive employee engagement all count as evidence that work is now treated very casually. That’s why having a care factor for the outcome of your work is now almost an act of rebellion. Any behavior that displays true investment in not just in how you yourself, but how the overall business performs will have heads turning in your direction.
CONSISTENCY
If you’re not able to be counted upon for consistent results, or for that matter consistent anything, you become a liability. If upper management is consistently* (see what I did there?) having to guess the quality of your work, this is a no bueno situeno. The only thing they know they can expect is that they don’t know what to expect. Unfortunately, consistency is also exceedingly rare.
In the era of “always do your best, even though your best looks like giving 100% on some days and 10% on others”, we inherently give ourselves an out for inconsistent behavior. I would never argue that people should be able to robotically perform, but it’s crucial to take care that we’re not excusing ourselves of the little steps that build up to deliver big results. The difference between good and great is in the details. If we built habits that truly reflected doing the same successful behavior required of us EACH time we repeat something, the success of our results would naturally increase. You perform the same each time because it’s part of the process – not part of the feeling. The reliability of your results is what’s indispensable to your leader.
This is also true in regard to how your team sees you perform if you are their leader. Not knowing what to expect from someone from day to day keeps people in a state of anxiety about their environment. Your team wondering if you’re moody, wondering if you’ll feel like doing something, wondering if you’ll be approachable, wondering whether you’re even paying attention are all detractors from their environment. When they know who they can count on you to be over and over again, you’ll also become a more trusted advisor.
Speaking of trust, when both your team and your leadership see you as trustworthy, your opinions are more readily sought after and heard. This could be for everyday small things, but it will also affect you positively when the stakes are higher. For example, let’s say you’ve been working hard on many projects and are asked to take on another that will truly stretch you beyond what you can deliver. The consistency you’ve brought to the table and the trust you’ve built by delivering what you said you would WHEN you said you would will give you the standing to say when too much is truly too much. This also requires some solid self-awareness, but more on that on another day.
THE MAGIC
Care can get lost in the mix without consistency, and consistency alone is typically not able to acquire this level of reward and respect. Without care you run the risk of appearing perfectly able, but disengaged. Without consistency your results don’t matter beyond today. Both are essential to stay at the top of the pack. When you take these two rare and valuable qualities and blend them into your workplace character, you’ve gotten your ticket to being seen as a high-performer. Coincidentally, being thought of as a high performer is also required for you to take the next step toward advancement in your career!
Long hours don’t mean much if your output tanks because you’re running on fumes. If you stay running on fumes (for whatever reason) you’ll likely lose your investment in one or both of the above. Wash, rinse, repeat. Care and consistency presented together is the key unlock toward the favor of the boss. These are perfectly compatible with implementing boundaries that protect your mental health and burnout from your position. So ask yourself now, which do I need more of in this season?