Balance as a leader

Calling it what it is. Work/Life balance is defined by folks as being able to do what they want, when they want to. That’s just not reality. Real life doesn’t work like that. On today’s episode, Access EForms COO Davin Marceau sits down with CEO Tim Elliott. If you’ve heard the phrase “work/life balance”, hear from two exectuives of a business growing month over month for the last two years, and their takeaways from that concept.  See more from Access EForms in the show notes below: (1:14) CEO Tim Elliott admits there is an ambiguous definition of whatever balance truly means. (2:04) Averaging out where reality is and what you’re striving to accomplish. Balance as a concept is very strange. (2:39) COO Davin Marceau talks about how 168 hours are a fact for each week, so to expect to grow an organization, build a family and equally balance all of that is unrealistic. There’s not accomplishing a center point. (3:32) COO Davin Marceau talks about how he’s learned that Simon Sinek talks about how there is a true  fallacy of “Work/Life balance” and compares As the pendulum swings back and forth from one side to the other, the seasons of life will always  (4:28) CEO Tim Elliott admires how his family stayed together and his wife stayed with him as he built a business at the same time as his children were young and growing. (5:24) CEO Tim Elliott talks about how gut-wrenching it can be to be asked to introduce yourself back to the kids, because things will fall out of balance from time to time. Especially how family spills over into work and how those lines become blurred constantly. (6:25) Because there is a clear performance standard that is met, there comes a time when you can build towards the “free days”. (6:52) When that happens, sometimes those closest to you can help you to build confidence in how much you’re needed. But also, needed back at the office, not at the house anymore! (8:04) COO Davin Marceau talks about how much of his time his family wants versus what they need. Adequately managing your time as a leader will always be the difference in your ability to truly hit your goals and the work/life balance. (9:32) When you’re on top, you may enjoy the fruits of your labor that is truly only more like 5% of the time. It’s the 95% of the time that is full of pressure and stress as the leader, to ensure the bottom line is met and folks are taken care of. (10:41) COO Davin Marceau acknowledges that development into your leadership means that you’ll need to evaluate your ability to train those coming along. (11:22) CEO Tim Elliott admits that there isn’t a true balance as a leader unless you’re able to track the milestones and activity towards those milestones. As an organization, there are best practices that folks can train to, but ultimately trust within the business is what leaders are looking for. (13:05) Having the support there as a team, leaders can measure how they’ve been balancing their time, if their subordinate leaders are adequately able to handle these challenges. (13:58) CEO TIm Elliott shares a best practice of not checking your email early in the morning and instead using your time to put your brain in a calmer state, like meditation. (15:22) COO Davin Marceau observes the differences in leadership styles when it comes to balance the creativity uniquely reserved for the creatives or energizers of the business. (16:29) When you have an organization that shares honestly and openly about the quality of their ideas, you’ll have a fruitful pathway forward. They share the differences between the previous years. (17:28) COO Davin Marceau shares how their organization decided to pass up revenue streams and instead, admitting there are more important focuses. (18:31) CEO Tim Elliott completes the thought of how tough it has been to not chase opportunities, rather, focus their attention on what they do best, versus the dopamine release of chasing something only to be needed or wanted. (19:16) COO Davin Marceau and CEO Tim Elliott share that even the scary truth can be difficult to talk about, but without that conversation, folks can’t be trusted when the tough times present themselves.  (20:03) CEO Tim Elliott admits that it’s truly better to work on worthy problem, versus searching for a problem to dive into.  (21:09) CEO Tim Elliott shares the ability to look back at all of the challenges of your day and realize how much further you’ve come. Literally acknowledging that you’re better at 6p than you were at 6a, and that practice being an intentional part of your routine weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually. Subscribe and Follow to Maintain the “Leadership Mindset” Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AccessEFM/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/Access_eforms?s=20 Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessefm/ Tim Elliott, CEO, Access EForms - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-elliott-b84b39a/ Davin Marceau, COO, Access EForms - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davinmarceau/