If you buy a loaf of bread tomorrow, you expect it to be the SAME AS the loaf of bread you bought yesterday. Buy a car, you expect it to start, run, and the wheels to stay on when you drive it. Buy an artery-clogging hamburger from a restaurant of your choice and you expect that it will taste the same from one store within your favorite chain as it does from another store in that same chain and to do so no matter what state or country you visit…and it does. That consistency is at the heart of great and successful businesses.
Consistency is the friend of business. Inconsistency is the enemy.
In business, inconsistency is called VARIATION. The study of variation is built into production sciences such as Six Sigma, the application of statistics to processes to isolate and control factors that cause the outcomes, the end products, to be a little different and sometimes different enough to actually disappoint and fail to meet expectations. Mind you, a small amount of variation may be quite acceptable for certain products and certain outcomes. But large variation is almost always undesirable, unwanted, and, sometimes, may present deadly serious consequences. An example of the latter? Jets need wings to flex up and down. Some wings may flex a tiny bit more than others and that may be within acceptable tolerances. But if the wings fall off, that may not be okay.
Bringing consistency to your work routines can be a major boost to your productivity. With increased productivity comes increased responsibilities, improved reputations for reliability and dependability, and often, career advancement.
Strive for consistency. Analyze your efforts to discover, control, even remove, many of the causes of variation.
