Good leadership requires balance in several aspects. When there is no balance, the leader can fall into extremes that affect his effectiveness and negatively impact results, people, and even his personal life.
The good news is that it is possible to find this balance and to achieve it the first step is to know what are those aspects that require balance.
1. Work life and personal life
It is increasingly common to hear of burnout or burnout syndrome, a state of exhaustion in which the leader stops being functional, mainly a product of chronic stress and work overload. When the leader puts aside the activities that allow him to discharge stress, focus his mind and recharge his energy, he ends up making poor decisions and affecting his productivity, his communication and his relationships. Not to mention other costs in health and personal life.
2. Focus on people and focus on results
If the leader focuses only on meeting the objectives and achieving the goals in the stipulated time, without taking into account the needs of the people, he runs the risk of transferring high levels of pressure and stress to his team, which will end up affecting the climate and relationships. At the other extreme, if the leader only focuses on people and maintaining a pleasant environment, he runs the risk of not meeting deadlines and indicators, without producing the results that the organization expects.
3. Direct communication and empathic communication
Feedback in a direct, specific, concrete and honest way is key if the leader wants to make clear what he needs and expects from his collaborators. At the same time, for feedback to be well received it must be warm, empathetic, kind and compassionate. A leader needs to be direct and at the same time show appreciation for his collaborators.
4. Share and optimize time
When the leader is obsessed with “not wasting time”, he may stop listening when people speak to him and lose valuable information. While it is very important that you help your employees to be concrete and move forward, it is also important that you listen to them and share with them beyond work, in order to build relationships of trust and loyalty.
5. Demand and understand
A leader who only demands, but does not put himself in the shoes of his collaborators, can be seen as uncompromising and inhumane. A leader who always gives in and doesn't demand can end up being permissive and getting the job done that others should. Knowing when to understand, give and help, and when to set limits, demand and let others take responsibility, is an important balance in leadership.
6. Supervise and delegate
Obviously a leader must monitor the work carried out by his collaborators; give them feedback when necessary, and contribute suggestions that may be helpful. The important thing is that you do it without falling into the extreme of micromanaging, without supervising the micro and focusing on every detail. People need to feel autonomy, so the leader must empower his collaborators and facilitate their learning, in order to delegate activities and decisions to them, choosing to be a coach and not a policeman.
