SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How well do you model having a balanced lifestyle for your team members?
- I’m a great role model — I have wonderful balance: 28.68%
- I’m OK — sometimes I get out of balance: 53.82%
- I’m a poor role model — I have very little balance: 17.5%
They take their cues from you. We all proclaim we want the members of our team to lead balanced lives. The problem is, we model that behavior poorly. Heck, some of us send out e-mails at 3 a.m. on a Sunday encouraging our teams to achieve better balance. Balance is about setting boundaries and it’s critical that you do so for your own sanity and well-being. You also need to do it to set a better example for your team. If you can do a better job of setting boundaries, you’ll find you achieve balance faster and more consistently, which is good both for you and for the members of your team.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”