Striking a Balance

If you could do a search and word count of the 200+ entries in this blog, the word that would probably come up the most is "balance." There is a reason for this:

The most important function you have when leading Creatives is maintaining balance.

Ok, that's just an opinion, not an established fact or anything. But if you think about it, so much of what you do is keeping different aspects of your firm in balance. Consider:

- resources vs priorities

- Creatives' need for autonomy vs their level of experience

- right-brain-ed-ness vs left brain-ed-ness

- clients' wishes vs the goals of the firm's owners

- Creatives' interest in having an enjoyable workplace vs your need to make a profit

- your Creatives' need to express their individuality vs a formal, professional workplace

- long-term vs short-term

- salary vs other forms of compensation

None of these are mutually exclusive, you simply need to find the right mix of each. What you need to realize is that, as a leader, YOU are the one who decides that mix. That's what you're getting paid for.

When you come right down to it, the culture of your organization rests largely in your hands. How you address competing desires and various constraints will determine (to some extent) the firm's atmosphere, your Creatives' productivity, the kind of people you recruit and retain, and other aspects of your firm's long-term and short-term life.

Your ability to keep that balance will come from your education, your experience, and your willingness to make decisions. If any of these are lacking, the time to fix them is now, not later.

Dealing with human resources issues, mentoring employees, scheduling meetings...all of these things that seem like the normal day-to-day experience of a leader are all driven by the balance you maintain. If you don't pay attention to keeping that balance, you'll lose it, and like a cyclist losing his balance while pedaling down the street, that's just never pretty.