THE BUSINESS OF BALANCE.

The Business of Balance

The word “balance” in business generally gets people thinking of checkbooks, credit and debits, profits and losses, income and expenses, etc.  However, I believe there are other critical areas of business (and life) where “balance” is often ignored.

Whether your company is in start-up, re-org, or growth mode, its leaders must truly embrace the concept of “balance.” In fact, “balance” should be everyone’s mantra in business and in life. Like in anything worthwhile, achieving true “balance” takes work. It starts with a solid plan and that plan must be constantly monitored and tweaked.

Let’s look at some of the obvious areas your business can benefit from balance.

Financial: As I mentioned, “financial balance” often gets the most attention in companies.  Whether it’s a small mom & pop with a bookkeeper or a mega-corporation with a CFO and a team of accountants, researchers and advisors, most companies get the concept of financial balance. Without embracing the fundamental principals of financial management a company can not survive long enough to make other mistakes.

Cost/Time Management: Another area of “balance” that can be critical to the success of an organization is the area of cost/time management.  If your producing a product or conducting a service, you must find the balance between quality, customer service and the labor related economics at play.  If the market dictates that you can only sell a product for $5-$7 dollars, you can’t invest $5-$7 in materials and labor.  You must balance your cost of materials, labor and overhead, while still maintaining a certain standard of excellence for your products and/or services. This is what we refer to in business as a “big fat duh!”

So we’ve covered the most obvious areas of “balance” and those that any moderately capable “business growth development” consultant would look at. Now, let’s go far beyond the “balance sheet” and look deep into the cultural fiber of an organization. A critical area that requires “balance” in order for a company to succeed long-term.

Let me explain. Employees in companies are like children in a family.  They seek out and are comforted by leadership, yet they still need to be allowed to have their own voice, given a level of independence and be empowered with specific responsibilities and deliverables.  It’s up to the management team to help provide the tools and the environment their employees need to complete their tasks efficiently, enjoy their roles and thrive. Like in any family, personalities play a major role in the success of a company.  The key difference between families and companies is, parents can’t choose the personalities of their children. All they can do is set the tone of their household, have certain rules and pray. Similarly, business owners must define their company’s tone/attitude from day one. Management must cast their employees as a director casts a movie. Leaders must concoct a deliberate blend of personalities that will comprise that company’s “flavor” and ensure that every employee embraces a singular vision.

This “balance” of personalities is a prerequisite to the success of every company as cultural clashes and egos have the power to erode, and eventually collapse, even the biggest companies.

Personal recognition vs. financial reward: This is a critical area of “balance” often ignored in Corporate America.  Many companies take the “black & white” position that “we’re paying our employees a lot, so they’ll do what we need them to or they won’t survive.”  On the surface, this rigid practicality may make economic sense. However, it ignores the reality that humans are not machines.  We are emotional beings that thrive on acknowledgment, appreciation and respect.  While salary is undeniably a measure of how an employer values an employee, it is not the end all. People thrive on their accomplishments being appreciated and acknowledged by peers and superiors.  However, it’s important that management design a clear, staged recognition system and regularly monitors this system to ensure that “the praise” itself maintains a special value and meaning to employees at every level.

“Maybe we should give him a raise, then he’ll really step up!” Often leaders make the mistake of using compensation as a motivator to foster personal growth of an employee.  However, as author and motivational speaker Jim Collins points out in his book “Good to Great,” The purpose of a compensation system should not be to get the right behaviors from the wrong people, but to get the right people on the bus in the first place, and to keep them there. Collins also points out that keeping the wrong person on the team is a disservice to “the right” people. Leaders need to find the “balance” between reevaluating, reassigning and removing employees that did not fit well into the corporate fiber to begin with. Leaders must “balance” their desire to mold employees (“Oh, but she loves it here,” or “he’s such a nice guy”) with their acknowledgement that they may have the wrong person in the wrong seat. Either find the right place for “Mr. Nice Guy (Girl)” within your organization or do him/her (and your company) a favor and let him/her find something outside your infrastructure that better suits his/her skill-set.

So if you’re starting, running or working for a company that is “out of balance,” take a close look at why.  It’s likely because the leaders of the company are perpetuating it. Look at the landscape and evaluate the opportunities you have to help tip the scale back to its center. Evaluate “the flavor” of the company and make sure it suits your palate.  A job must be more than just a livelihood because we spend so much of our lives working. When people find the joy in their work then, and only then will they find the “balance” required to completely enjoy all life has to offer and help themselves and their employers thrive.

YOU CAN REACH CORY AT CREE8 CONSULTING

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