Blog #283
It is my strong belief that for anyone to be a great leader, they have to ensure they are their best selves in all aspects of life. What I mean by this is a leader needs to be healthy and well-rounded on a holistic level. For example, if you are making good money, yet spend no time at home and are unfit, it is likely you are not being the best you could be as a leader. If you are fairly well balanced, but find your work to be unfulfilling and not intellectually challenging, you might be leaving greatness on the table. If you love what you do, but do not like the environment or the compensation, how can you be truly effective?
However, when all these factors begin to align, the world becomes a magical place. Having a healthy balance, as defined by you and on your terms, can be incredibly powerful. In addition, it will start modeling what great can look like for the members of your team.
Above is an image outlining an automated tool I created called The Life Balance Wheel to help people visually see how they believe they are currently doing in a holistic self-assessment. This exercise usually takes about six minutes and provides immediate automated results.
The intention is to use this tool as a starting point to candidly define where someone is starting from today. Based on this assessment, we then go through each slice to identify what success would like, the current barriers, and how to overcome these. We begin planning for what can be done that will have the greatest initial impact. We create clear action steps and tools for accountability. Often, these are remarkably simple: getting better sleep, time management, work-life balance, exercise, and intentional “thinking time”. The immediate results can be monumental. When a senior leader becomes proactive about their rest and intentional thinking, huge strides can be achieved in little time.
Reka and I also use this tool in our Life On Your Terms workshops and retreats. With couples, we ask each partner to take the Life Balance Wheel Assessment. Once they have finished, we instruct one person to lay their results on top of the other person’s then discuss it. Wonderful things happen during this exercise!
In some cases, it helps couples see where they are in alignment, which can build momentum.
In other cases, it be extremely valuable in creating awareness of gaps and misalignments.
But in all cases, it empowers each person in the relationship to understand the perspective of the other.
The next step in this process is to outline what amazing could look like for each slice. This assists the couple in creating clarity and defining areas for growth. It becomes the starting point for identifying the direction they want to go – both individually and as a couple.
In future posts, I will outline additional tools that are used along this journey.
If you would like a free link to this tool, please send me an email ([email protected]) and we will get you set up.
Are you leading with your best self? Do you want to know more about becoming a holistically balanced leader? We can help you with that! Contact us today to find out how to get started.
Keep Smiling,
Kris