One of the most important things for not only a leader but a decent human being to be is consistent. People need to know that they don't have to walk on eggshells around you just in case you're having a bad day. Consistent doesn't necessarily mean that you're a kind hearted person that always has something nice to say to everybody you see. Consistent can also mean you're a distant person that's always about business and wants things done by the book. Somebody that might fire somebody for coming in 5 minutes late. Consistency is people can trust you to be who you are no matter what.
I prefer to work with consistent people instead of erratic people. The main reason is I have to know where I stand with you. I personally need to know if I can trust you to uphold the standards to the degree that you're going to hold me accountable, or you're going to be scamming every chance you get so I know not to trust you when it comes to work or anything else for that matter.
I remember I once worked in an office that never held people accountable for anything, or so I thought. People came and went as they pleased, you could come in 1-2 hours late without an excuse if you wanted to. You could take 2 and 3 hour lunches and you could leave an hour early just about daily, and nobody would ever say anything to you about it. During my time in this office we were tasked to have everybody take a test, and we were the office conducting the test. I don't remember knowing the deadline, but while the testing phase was going on I had taken a week off so I could go visit my daughter. When I came back I found out that I had missed my deadline and all of my certifications were lost. I was pretty upset since this was the office that decided to take people's certifications, and nobody outside the office would know one way or the other, and it was an open book test. But this was the thing they wanted to hold me accountable for and they made an example of me. All for a test that like I said was open book and only about 20 questions.
I understand that in the above example it would have been unethical for me to expect my office to show me any favoritism in how to discipline me for missing the deadline. I should have been treated exactly how anybody else would've been treated had they missed the deadline for taking the test also. The thing that upset me the most was I don't remember seeing anybody ever get in trouble for anything in this office, there was a real informal atmosphere where people just came and went as it pleased them, and then this happened. Now if this office was known for it's strict adherence to the standards then that would've been my mindset and I would've acted more carefully with missed deadlines.
This was my example because it also shows how not to be as a leader. When leading people we must always have established standards in place and stick to them no matter what. If we are inconsistent as leaders then when it comes time to discipline people they might not even know why it's happening or resent you for making it happen. Being a leader is hard enough with having to deal with the different personalities and attitudes that people bring with them to work on a daily basis but, inconsistency in our own personalities will make it more difficult for us to be taken seriously as a leader.
Another reason being consistent is imperative as a leader is if you are consistently you, then eventually the bad parts of your personality will come out, and when they do people will notice them and eventually say something to you about it and you can work on it. If you're inconsistent you might not ever show your bad side and you won't be corrected on it. I used to have a really bad habit of using unprofessional language all the time. To the point that I didn't even know what was coming out of my mouth. Until people started telling me about it. All the time it'd be, Patrick you need to watch your mouth, this is a professional setting we're not supposed to use that kind of language. Even when I got married my wife used to get on me about it. After awhile I really started to feel bad because I just couldn't help it. Then one day people noticed I wasn't cussing anymore. They were as shocked as I was. Now I don't use that kind of language.
I try to be me no matter where I'm at, whether it's church, work or home. This way if there's something that needs to be worked on I'll be told about it at church, work and home and I'll work on it at church, work and home. Being consistent isn't just being the same only at work or church, but being consistent in all aspects of your life to everybody you know. I know this can be hard, but if you want to gain respect as a leader it's a must.
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