C4. Maintain consistency
Apply expectations fairly and reliably. Consistency builds trust and credibility.
Resources to support growth in this behaviour
Whether this behaviour has been chosen through Step 1. Diagnose, highlighted through reflection or coaching, or identified as a school or trust priority, you can now follow the steps below to develop and embed it in your daily leadership practice.
Step 2. Learn: Read Everyone Succeeds: 54 Leadership Behaviours to Transform Your School to understand what great leadership looks like in practice. Each behaviour is grounded in research and real examples from schools and businesses.
Step 3. Reflect: Use the Everyone Succeeds Workbook to apply ideas to your own context.
Guided reflection, practical actions, and space for planning turn understanding into improvement.
Step 4. Apply: Work through the Leadership Toolkit for this behaviour. Use the Maintain Consistency toolkit to monitor fidelity, spot bright spots and gaps, and re-teach expectations so practice sticks.
Step 5. Coach and practice: Use the Maintain consistency Coach and Practise Frameworks to strengthen the behaviour through reflection on follow-through and coaching questions about fairness, rehearsing predictable responses so trust is built over time.
These can be used individually or with colleagues to embed key behaviours.
Step 6. Plan: Set measurable goals using the 90 Day Leadership Planner.
Turn improvement into action by tracking your focus and progress over time, with completed examples for different career stages.
Step 7. Lead: Apply your learning to real situations through the Scenario Finder.
Over fifty scenarios link directly to the behaviours that help you solve the challenges that matter most in your school.
One book suggestion
Great by Choice – Jim Collins & Morten Hansen (2011).
The “20 Mile March” concept: consistent discipline outperforms bursts of intensity. Buy the book.
References from the Everyone Succeeds book
Hattie, J., Timperley, H., & Anderman, M. (2020). Routines, practices, and student achievement: Examining the mediating role of classroom consistency. Journal of Educational Psychology, 113(1), 72-96.
McCoach, J. M., & Marzano, R. J. (2015). A synthesis of research on classroom expectations and student outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 85(4), 727-760.