Three Dimensions of Balanced Leadership
Effective leadership requires a proactive and deliberate balancing act. The business world is constantly throwing out different challenges, and if you’re merely reacting, you’ll always be out of balance.
What does a strong leader need to balance? We’ve found these three key dimensions:
1) Power style: Assertive versus Accommodative
The best leaders aren’t overbearing, nor are they overly deferential. Leadership requires awareness of the situation, and a deliberate choice about how best to leverage power in each situation. Some situations require clear direction and swift action — an assertive stance — while others benefit from gaining consensus or exploring multiple options — an accommodative stance. Many leaders have a dominant or default power style, and without self-awareness, overuse their default power style.
2) Systems versus Human Orientation
Success depends on systems (strategy, structure, process) AND on the humans working in the system. The best leaders balance their time and effort between improving systems and developing humans. The pressure to deliver and achieve business results is constant, and can push leaders to over-focus on systems. Strong leaders must also be proactive and intentional about making sufficient time to coach and develop people. One critical area of developing people is providing both positive acknowledgment and critical feedback (another balance point).
3) Time Horizons
Leaders often must deal with tactical issues that require immediate attention, yet must overcome the ‘tyranny of the urgent’ to devote enough energy and patience to build the foundation for long-term success. Values, mission and strategy — are these clear enough and powerful enough to steer people’s actions? “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” as the saying goes, and cultivating a strong company culture requires a long-term outlook, deliberate attention, and leaders acting in alignment together as a team.
Tips for achieving balance
Balance does not mean spending equal time and effort on each side. It means being deliberate about how to focus your time and effort, and ensuring that nothing is neglected. A practical way to accomplish balance is to plan each week with an intention to balance each dimension appropriately. Ask yourself these three questions, and block times on your calendar.
This week, where should I be accommodative versus assertive?
This week, how will I balance my focus between systems and my people?
This week, how will I devote enough time to both short-term versus long-term goals?
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