The Balancing Act of Leadership: Commitments vs Compromise

The pressure is on!  Leaders are expected to get stellar results with fewer staff members, smaller budgets, and longer hours.  If the results fall short of the expectations, customers are unhappy and employers begin to question the leaders abilities or loyalty.  The tension increases and the fine line of compromise begins to encroach upon the finer quality of thoughtful leadership.

Thoughtful leadership is like walking on a tight rope.  Every step you take must be calculated and intentional; all while you balance a long pole in your hands - at one end your people and the other end your profitability.  That pole is always in motion.  At one moment you can feel the pull toward the actions that create profit.  The next moment the balance tips toward the needs of your team.  You cannot allow one end to have more influence over the other.  You need both ends to create a lower center of gravity that allows you to focus on the next goal.  Your success is the result of keeping the pole balanced and moving forward one step at a time.  

Leaders lose their balance and influence when they compromise.  I wrote years ago from my own experience:

“My greatest success is the result of keeping my commitments.  My greatest failures are the result of compromise.”

So how can a leader get the right results while walking that tightrope?  I read a blog this morning by friend Mark Sanborn that sparked my thinking on this issue.  I want you to consider a couple of ideas that he wrote: 

The ongoing question for any leader is “How can we obtain superior results the right way?” Short cuts can derail a leader’s career; they can also bring down entire organizations. Doing the expedient instead of the prudent can put both the leader and the organization at risk.

Best practices are good, but the better strategy is when you pioneer next practices: the kind of strategies and tactics that change the game.

 

Mark presents 5 outstanding questions that will help you be a thoughtful leader in his blog titled: For Leaders, Result Rule but Methods Matter.  

How are you doing at keeping this balance?  Where do you see compromise jeopardizing the forward motion of your company?  I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

-Steven Iwersen