Finding the balance
Finding the right balance in business is hard. As I sat on the beach with my daughter, feeling on the one hand guilty that I was not at work and on the other pleased that I had the flexibility to be able to take time out when she needed me to be there to hold her hand, we built stone towers.
As I struggled to balance the stones, I reflected on many of the recent conversations I have had around balance in business:
- Running a successful lifestyle business: the right balance between work and home or play
- Leading a successful team: the balance between support and performance
- Growing a business: the balance between sales and delivery whilst staying true to purpose
I could go on…
Often we build layer on layer of finely balanced processes. But what if the wind blows too hard, or the ground underneath your pile of stone shakes? Will your tower stay standing?
I have been recently reading the Yvon Chouinard, the Patagonia founder’s book ‘Let my people go surfing’, which has just been updated in its 10th year since publication and have been impressed once again by the courage they had to strip down the business when they realised their balance was wrong.
Is it time for you to look at your stone tower? Here are a few starter ideas:
- Question everything – find your inner 4-yr old
- Making sure your foundations are secure – your reasons for being, your ‘why’ (in the words of Simon Sineck – check out his TED talk if you haven’t already).
- Investigate your architecture, the team, direction and targets, systems and processes, roles and responsibilities.
- Know the wider environment in which you are operating (PESTLE and Porter’s 5-forces can be useful frameworks)
- Get some help to take a step back if you are struggling to do it on your own.
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