Balance: What Leaders Need to Succeed in Business
Written by Phil Geldart, Eagle’s Flight CEO
In this second post in the “8 Principles of Leadership” series, I’ll discuss six ways you can achieve balance in order to become a stronger leader.
Work-Life Balance
It’s important to maintain balance between work and family, not only for the sake of your own mental well-being, but also because of the example that you set for those around you. Further, we are each dependent on the intangible support we receive from those at home, and it is crucial to ensure that we invest as significantly at home as we do at work.
It’s difficult to be fully focused on the job at hand when there are problems at home, perhaps because you’ve neglected the balance between work and family. Similarly, the organization you work for has the right to expect both your time and a high degree of performance in exchange for the compensation it provides. Take personal control of this balance, rather than letting circumstances control you.
Balancing Needs of Self vs. Group
You bring to your responsibilities all the things that make you unique and special. Your contributions are vital regardless of your role in the group with which you’re associated. You are there because they need you and want you. Your contributions move things ahead and make the environment richer for all concerned.
As a result, you need to be careful to ensure that whatever you need to do for you to keep your own “inner sanity,” you do. You must recognize that it’s a priority to balance your time between the contributions you make to family and the groups with which you are associated and the time and the energy you spend on yourself. For example, if you feel you need some quiet time to yourself and the best time to get it is in the morning, then schedule your time and the activities of your life around getting the time that you need in the morning. Alternatively, you may enjoy a game of tennis as a way of recharging your batteries and staying fit, and this may be best done in the evening. In this case, ensure that you get that relaxation and recharging at the end of the day.
Urgent vs. Important
Urgent things are the day-to-day things that are typically short-term in focus and significant only within that time frame. On the other hand, the important things tend to have a longer-term outlook and usually result in longer-term improvement. The important things tend to be things that will create long-term change, like improving efficiencies resulting in waste elimination. The important things typically minimize the number of urgent things. Do not neglect the important because of the tyranny of the urgent, but rather manage your time and resources to realize the potential of the important.
Pride vs. Humility
Our ego is one of the key drivers encouraging us to improve, be better, accomplish things, and excel. As such, it is a good thing. However, if we feed it too much or become too focused on ourselves, then it becomes pride, and pride begins to get in the way of what we’re trying to achieve in our relationships or other areas of our life.
Pride has a way of contaminating relationships and inhibiting strong, healthy discussion and interaction. Humility is the counterpoint to pride, and it is both respected and admired. Humility in an individual allows that person to be a better listener, to be more focused on others, and to have a greater appreciation for the contributions of others. However, humility also has an Achilles’ heel. If we are too humble, we fail to take charge when we need to, we fail to speak up and give our input for the benefit of others, and we fail to make the long-term impact in the lives of others that we could make if we were more willing to “step up and be counted.”
Good vs. Great
Commit yourself to wanting to achieve only those things which are really good and make a significant difference.
Knowing how much energy to put against things that are “good” versus things that are “best” is often challenging. A dad who has decided to spend the afternoon with his son has to choose what would be “good” (for example, taking him to the office so at least they’re together while the dad works), as opposed to that which is “best” (for example, spending time throwing a Frisbee in the park, going for an ice cream, and then coming home and reading a chapter together in a favorite book). Sometimes it’s only possible to do what is “good,” but at least understand that “great” is available, and that this time you have chosen “good” instead of “great,” presumably for the right reasons.
Influenced vs. Independent
Independent thinking is highly valued in that it brings freshness, originality, and personal focus to a task. Learning from others is also highly valued, as it allows corporate knowledge to be passed on, skills to be transferred, and key character traits to be replicated throughout an organization. There always needs to be balance between the value of individual thought and that of thought influenced by the attitudes and achievements of others. Without this balance, individuals can become either egocentric (too independent), or repressed (too heavily influenced). Encouraging an appropriate balance between these two extremes is a crucial element of creating an effective workforce over the long term.
A powerful way to personally grow is by developing strong personal independence in conjunction with carefully selected influencers.
Achieve Balance Without Tipping the Scales
Balance looks different for each of us. The key to effective balance for leadership is thinking carefully about the decisions you make and asking yourself if you have achieved balance or if you need to make any adjustments.
Whether you’re leading yourself or leading others, experiential leadership development can help you learn strategies for creating balance. Experiential training can help strengthen your leadership capability by using real-world scenarios that mirror the leadership challenges you may be facing at work. These experiences can help you learn the principles of leadership required to help you achieve balance for yourself and your team.
In my next post, I’ll be discussing why character is one of the eight principles of leadership you need in order to succeed. Stay tuned for the next article on character!
