Show up like a grown-up.

Your team shouldn’t have to guess who they’re getting today. Are you calm or irritated? Open or shut down? Easy to talk to or hard to approach? When people have to read your mood before they speak, something’s off.

Consistency at work doesn’t mean you’re fake. It means you’re a grown-up. Everyone has hard days. Everyone feels pressure. That’s normal. What matters is whether the people around you have to carry that with you. Your job as a leader isn’t to be perfect. Your job is to be steady.

Steady means people know how you respond. They know you’ll listen without blowing up. They know that you want to hear about problems. When you’re inconsistent, people stop bringing you the truth. They wait. They test the water. They protect themselves. And when that happens, you end up in the dark with nasty surprises lurking in the corner.

Consistency builds trust in quiet ways. It tells people they can count on you, not just when things are easy, but when they’re not. That creates trust, and trust drives performance. You just need to show up in a way that makes it easier for others to do their job. That’s leadership.