Communication within your business is one of the most valuable skills you need to master as a leader. It’s important for the ordinary running of your business, but it’s crucial when you’re trying to scale.

Just think about all of the things you have to communicate to your team. You need to talk to them about stock and database management. You’re going to have to introduce new processes and help the team members adjust to them.

If you fail to communicate effectively while introducing new things, your people end up confused. They’ll work aimlessly and without focus, which creates areas of inefficiency in your business.

Of course, those inefficiencies will create costs you don’t need to deal with when you’re preparing to scale.

I find that many business owners get confused when it comes to talking about these things.

But it’s actually really simple.

Your goal is to be like a good parent to your team. If you have kids, you know that consistency in routine and message are the keys to raising them right. You’ve got to apply that same line of thinking to your business.

In this article, I’m going to look at how consistency in your communication has a positive impact. But first…

There are three issues that can come up when you’re not consistent with your communication.

Each one of these issues can slow your business down. You won’t get the results you need to keep scaling. And your team will start to feel frustrated because you haven’t given them the focus they need to do a good job.

Inconsistent communication leads to your people getting overwhelmed. This is a constant theme I see in many of the businesses I work with. I step inside and I see a ton of reporting and other things going on.

The business owner may feel like they’ve got a good grip on things because they’ve got all these great reporting systems. But problems arise when there’s no clarity attached to these reports. And when your team doesn’t know why you need them or what purpose they serve inside the business.

And in scenarios like this, even when they are informed about what’s going on, it’s often a case of sending one message and leaving it at that. There’s no follow-up, which means there’s no consistency in the messaging.

Eventually, the team ends up confused and unfocused. Overwhelm and burn-out soon follow.

That lack of clarity and direction often leads to your team wondering if you’re actually fit to be a leader.

For instance, in Australia look at what happened to one of our former prime ministers Kevin Rudd. As history tells us, he served two terms as the Prime Minister. And towards the end of his first term, his own team ended up deposing him.

That’s what happens when there’s a lot of inconsistency in your message. Your team starts to ask if you know what you’re doing.

They become like rebellious children who think they know better than their parents. And if you’re not communicating effectively, they probably have a point.

It’s not just your people who end up resenting you when you’re inconsistent.

You can start to blame your team for the issues your business is having.

The problem here is that it isn’t their fault. It’s your inconsistent messaging that’s preventing them from fulfilling their potential.

You’re the leader of this business.

That means it’s time for you to do the difficult thing and take responsibility for the problems that inconsistency causes.

Maybe you’re experiencing a few of these problems in your business right now.

And here’s how creating consistency in your messaging will help…

I like to refer to one of my favourite people here, Seth Godin. If you don’t know Seth, he is one of the world’s leading marketing gurus. It’s not his marketing I want to talk about. It’s his consistency of communication I love, that continues to inspire and energise his audience

Seth offers a great example of what consistency can achieve. If you subscribe to Seth’s mailing list, you’re going to receive an email from him every single day. It’s going to come at the same time and it’s going to convey a message that’s consistent with his brand.

It’s no coincidence that he’s achieved the level of success he has.

I want you to become the Seth Godin of your own business.

There are two key things you can achieve when you have a consistent message:

• You make sure the message hits home. That means your team absorbs the message because you’re constantly repeating it.
• You get inside your team’s heads, which means you’re able to coach them through their roadblocks. Like a child asking, “What would Mum and Dad do in this situation?” They have an inner guide to help them through difficulties.

As a result, you create a more focused team who understand what they need to achieve for your business.

So…how do you build consistency into your message?

Landing the message three times is one of the keys. You want to send it out as a broadcast, convey it in team meetings, and reinforce it in one-on-one sessions.

However, I’d say scheduling is one of the other important keys here. It’s not just about how you send the message. It’s about when you do it.

Again, Godin offers the perfect example. His subscribers know when to expect his messages, which means they can anticipate and prepare for them but scheduling communication goes far beyond your emails. You also want to make sure that you’re holding team meetings at the same time each week. That’s going to ensure your people don’t have to drop everything when you randomly decide to call them together.

The same goes for your one-on-ones. Each member of the team should know when you’re going to talk to them so they can prepare.

I come back to my parent and child metaphor here. As a parent, you have to create a consistent routine for your child. You wake them up at a set time, send them to school, and put them to bed at night.

Maintaining that consistency communicates to your child what rules they need to follow in your house. Consistency in your business, particularly in regards to communication, achieves much the same thing.

I want you to take a look at your business as it stands today.

Is your team one big happy family that understands your messages and can work together based on them? You’ll know it is if you’re hitting your targets and everybody’s happy to be at work.

Inside our program that we deliver our leaders we talk a system called ‘Three Times To Land It’ that involves a broadcast that leads into a sales meeting then finishing with a #1 on #1. We also talk about the levels of communication being written, verbal and coaching. This system has changed the way our leaders think about team communication with a consistent pattern that’s designed to build and enhance staff retention.

In the end do your team members look burned out? Do they resent being in the office? Are they just turning up to work every day going through the motions?

If you answered “yes” to any of those three questions, your business has a consistency problem.