When Are You Unpredictable?
- Cristina Stensvaag
- Mar 31
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 23
Your team already knows your pattern. This week, focus on your consistency and find the gap they're working around.
March 31, 2026
Originally published in One More Rep, a weekly newsletter for people managers who want to get better through practice. Subscribe here — it's free.
Q1 was about how you lead yourself. Now we focus on how others experience your leadership. The bridge between them is shorter than you might think.
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The Moment
Last week you named your regulation pattern — the specific place where your system breaks down: under pressure, in groups, with certain people, at a particular moment in a conversation...
Does it surprise you that your team already knows that pattern? They've been working around it.
The Pattern
Trust erodes in small, repeated moments, not in big ones. The meeting where you're sharp when you're stressed and generous when you're not. The feedback that comes when you have time and disappears when you don't. The version of you that shows up on a good week versus a hard one.
Your team is pattern-matching you constantly. They're deciding what to expect, what to surface, and what to keep to themselves. They're asking, without ever asking out loud:
Which version of you is coming to work today?
Why This Matters
Consistency isn't about being the same in every situation. It's about being predictable so your team knows what they're working with, that they can bring you the hard things, and that they don't have to manage your reactions before they can do their jobs.
The regulation work you did in March was internal. This month it becomes visible. The gap you close isn't just about you. It's about what your team can rely on.
Rep
This Week's Practice
Before you can close a consistency gap, you have to find it. This week you're looking at where you're unpredictable from your team's perspective.
Your Rep
Identify one specific consistency gap this week. Where are you a different leader depending on your mood, your bandwidth, or who's in the room?
Now write it down in one sentence.
What to Notice
Success looks like:
The gap you name is behavioral, not situational ("I give less feedback when I'm busy," not "things have been hectic lately")
You can think of at least two recent examples that prove it
It's something your team would recognize immediately if you named it out loud
Resistance looks like:
"I'm pretty consistent" (ask someone who reports to you)
Identifying a gap that's flattering rather than accurate
Naming a gap you've already fixed
It's working when:
You catch yourself being inconsistent in real time this week, before the moment passes
Common Mistakes
Mistake #1: Looking for dramatic inconsistency. You don't have to be volatile to have a gap. Giving great feedback in 1:1s and none in group settings is a gap. Being decisive with your peers and vague with your team is a gap. Start there.
Mistake #2: Making it about circumstances. "I'm less patient when we're under deadline" is a description of your circumstances. "My team gets shorter answers and less context when pressure is high" is your gap. Name the behavior, not the excuse.
Reflect
If your team described your leadership style to a new hire, what would they say is unpredictable about you?
Where does that unpredictability cost your team?
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Cristina Stensvaag is co-founder of LeaderReps and creator of One More Rep, a weekly practice-based leadership newsletter for people managers.