SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 160,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each Tuesday in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How good of an example of living a balanced life are you for your team?
- I’m a perfect example. My life is very much in balance: 13.61%
- I’m a good example. I’m mostly in balance but sometimes work too hard: 37.58%
- I’m a fair example. Sometimes I’m in balance but not as often as I’d like: 29.48%
- I’m a weak example. I’m out of balance most of the time: 12.53%
- I’m a terrible example. I’m never in balance and work consumes me: 6.80%
Half in balance. Living a balanced life is important both for you and for your team. For you, managing stress and balance in a fast-paced global economy is tough, but if you don’t, you’ll burn out and be worthless. More importantly, your team takes their cues from you on how hard they should be working. It’s hard for them to reconcile you telling them to leave by 6 p.m. when they’re still getting e-mails from you at midnight. Sometimes you have to set a pointed example of what balance is because you might find, as I did in this particular scenario, taking time out for yourself sends a strong signal to your team as well.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”