“Take Time Off”
In General, Powell’s Terms “Take Leave When You’ve Earned It”
“Never become so consumed by your career that nothing is left that belongs only to you and your family. Don’t allow your profession to become the whole of your existence.” General Colin Powell
Taking time off – is actually an exercise in “Balance”
General Powell takes this attribute of “balance” beyond just time-off. Balance is about all aspects of leadership. As we have worked through these past fourteen attributes, there has not been any one of them that was considered the “key-to-success”. Balance between and among all the characteristics of an effective leader are not just important, but required, without balance the leader will always be found to be coming up short. Leadership is complex. Leadership is a constantly changing situation and environment without balance the leader cannot keep their self, their subordinates, their peers and their organization in perspective.
Furthermore, balance is about, family-time; fun at work as well as with family and self. Quality of life is paramount to good leadership. If work, responsibility, deadlines and personnel issues consume you, you are likely to be overtaken by burnout. To balance leadership skills at work, to balance needs between work, family and self, leadership and fun all this takes careful attentiveness by each leader. Take frequent inventory of your mental and personal health. Am I paying sufficient attention to my family and personal needs? This is a question that you must address not just for yourself but for your subordinates as well.
A number of years ago I had oversight of a staff that were extremely dedicated to the success of the organization and dedicated to their particular job function within the organization. Each person had a critical role in the successful completion of some very high profile projects in which the company was involved. Dedication lead them to begin working excessive amounts of “casual” overtime, i.e. uncompensated, this was their way of ensuring success. They were all working fifty-five to sixty-five hours per week without reporting overtime. I brought them together; there were seven people in this particular function. I informed them that the casual-overtime was going to stop. I limited their work week to forty-five hours. I required that they have my written permission to work beyond forty-five hours regardless of the reason. None requested additional hours, the work and project were completed successfully. The entire staff moral and personalities improved. To me this was about balance. I have never been impressed with the number of hours anyone works; General Powell expresses the same concern. Quality of work not quantity of work should always be the measure. This relates directly to an earlier chapter about ‘ego’. Do not be so consumed by your ‘ego’ that it or your work becomes ‘who-you-are’.
Three critically important things; balance of work and family, balance of leadership attributes, balance of fun at work. How many of you know of someone personally that has suffered from premature “burn-out”. I suspect we all know someone in that category. Do not fall victim to obsessive behaviors, you will not benefit, your subordinates will not benefit and the organization will not benefit. Ask yourself one very simple question. Have I ever given consideration to ‘balance’? It is time you did. You will fare better, your subordinates will fare better and the organization will fare better.
“Powell Principles – By Oren Harari”
- 1. Strive for balance. Powell is unequivocal here. Do not neglect home and family life.
- 2. Have fun in your leadership. Research suggests those who have fun in their jobs perform better.
- 3. Do not clock hours for hours’ sake. Do not confuse activity with production.
- 4. Make it a priority to create a balanced, fun environment for others. An environment where people work hard, play hard and take leave when they have earned it is optimal.
There are three books I recommend as reading to everyone that is interested in understanding the principles of leadership.
- The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell by *Oren Harari
- The Powel Principles by *Oren Harari
- It Worked For Me – In Life and Leadership by “Colin Powell”
Please talk with your peers and see if they would benefit from this series. If you think they may, please send them to the web site www.mbcincorp.com they may download the free white paper and be automatically signed up to receive all future leadership articles and quality tips.
Thanks to All
Bill Martin – President
MBC, Inc.
