Consistency in Leadership Matters

By Jason Motes, Ed.D.

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"Mission Commander for President!" exclaimed one of my troops, as I walked away from a military formation (all hands) on a freezing morning in a remote location. I had just made an announcement that was well-received by the troops, with some good news or a positive update to look forward to. Considering we were all in a less-than-ideal environment, roughing it out and trying to get through each day as we prepared for our pre-deployment certification, any good news made a big difference. I never forgot the exclamation or the voice of the person who said it. I probably walked away thinking I had just done a good job. After all, I'd just received some praise from someone well-respected among his peers.

Fast forward about 30 days, with the same troops in a similar morning formation, that same voice said, "We just want some consistency around here, Sir." The circumstances were completely different that morning; they were still in the same part of the country, but along the coastline, training at a different location. By this time, the troops were no longer living in austere conditions; they were staying in nice hotel rooms and working in significantly improved conditions with much better resources. Still undergoing pre-deployment certification, it was my first time seeing them in several weeks because I had delegated their leadership to someone else while I focused on other activities closer to our headquarters, a few hours away.

The tables had turned. I had just made an announcement that wasn't well received, and instead of praising me as I walked away, he said it right to my face in front of that formation while I stood before all of them. To him and the others, my announcement that morning seemed like a lack of consistency from what they'd known from me—always receiving good news. In reality, I'd delegated leadership responsibility to someone who, in my absence, wasn't upholding the standard I'd expected, and I had to address it. In fact, the standard had been completely disregarded, and for the troops, for at least 30ish days, that had become their new normal. I couldn't argue with the outburst; it was warranted. It was my fault. I'd let it get to that point, so when I made my announcement, which essentially countered what had become their new normal, it felt like a real unpleasant shock to them.

I once heard someone describe a frog in a pot of water. They said that if you put a frog in a pot of water on the stove and turn up the heat, the frog will swim unknowingly as the water warms until it eventually dies when the water gets too hot. Conversely, they also said that dropping a frog into hot water will cause it to die immediately. Maybe it's an extreme example, but what I noticed when I saw my troops for the first time in several weeks wasn't what I or my senior advisor expected to see. In fact, we were shocked. To the troops, however, nothing had changed; it was normal for them, and my news announcing what must've felt like sudden, unwelcome change surely felt drastic.

I immediately realized that my changes were not only necessary but also appropriate. I didn't like what I saw that morning, nor did my senior advisor, so I took action. Until that morning, whenever I stood in front of the troops, my announcements were always "positive." They were good messages that left the troops feeling like they were in a really good place. When I announced the changes, which they needed to hear from me, it probably made the troops feel that their circumstances no longer matched what they were used to under my leadership, and it was hard to counter that narrative. I allowed it to happen.

As a leader, that situation equates to failure. So, what could I have done differently? First, I should have set clearer expectations from the beginning. After all, as the saying goes, we inspect what we expect, and if only I am aware of our expectations, we've already missed the mark. What I expected to see and what I actually observed were vastly different. In hindsight, I simply didn't do a good enough job ensuring that my expectations were (1) communicated and (2) understood. Because if my expectations had been known and understood, I could at least hold the leaders under me accountable for not meeting them. But since they weren't universally known and understood, I didn't have a strong case to stand on.

Creating a personal leadership philosophy (PLP) when taking over a team or leading for the first time is crucial for setting clear expectations. The PLP provides a straightforward way to express the leader's do's, don'ts, quirks, values, priorities, and more. When done authentically, it becomes one of the most powerful tools in the leader's toolkit—a succinctly written document to be used as a reference and a handy resource for the team to call upon when challenges arise. The PLP is also convenient for helping serve as a guideline for the leaders within the team, especially when they're located remotely or in different locations. It serves as a basis for how the leader expects the team to act and make decisions. Finally, the PLP aids the leader in driving consistency, which, as the story above indicated, means a lot to those we lead.

Originally Published October 2025