Dan KentAd
Business leadership is a big role to take on and oftentimes encompasses individuals' entire line of sight. When this happens, attention is hyperfocused on the business side of leadership, but too many leaders overlook the importance of tending to both their personal and work lives.
According to the Harvard Business Review, achieving a healthy work-life balance is a must for maintaining strong leadership in every area "to cultivate broader professional identities, ones that leave space for family, community, and that find meaning in activities beyond work. Once we begin to value our leisure time, we will more easily be able to find balance between—and separate—who we are at work and who we are outside of the office."
Now more than ever, a business's values can be their make or break point. Studies say 77 percent of consumers interact with brands that share their values, and with the backbone behind any organization's brand stemming from the leader, this responsibility falls heavily on their shoulders.
If you're a business leader struggling to define your values in your company and life, Dan Kent is here to shed some insight.
"You may have all of the tools, tactics, systems, and processes lined up and ready to go. You may even have a well-capitalized business, with a robust market niche that will set you up with years of a steady revenue stream. You may have absolutely everything in place in your business, and still be compromised if you don't have a clear bead on your values," says business coaching expert Kent.
As a consultant, business coach, mentor and founder of Best Self Coaching, Kent's expertise is far more robust than a simple toolbag—he's equipped with a multi-shelf cabinet to help business owners build businesses that serve their lives. "It's my job to question your assumptions, hold you accountable, and bring your best self," he says. As part of uncovering people's best selves, he guides them through a detailed program called Clearing Obstacles: A Business Roadmap designed to clear obstacles in their lives and businesses.
If you're a business owner struggling to balance your scale, Kent's roadmap includes a cartographic feature for leadership that begins by identifying your credo, cultural landmarks, vibe or, in other words, your values.
In the corporate setting, defining a great leader tends to revolve around how hard you work, how big your company is, and the successes you've achieved. But becoming the best leader for both your life and business has more to do with clearly defined values across the board, one of which includes maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
"A lot of business owners bring to their business what they're strong at. It's Maslow's hammer effect. When all they have is a hammer, everything they see is a nail, and any strength that's overused becomes a weakness. So might they be out of balance? They may be great at finance, but they suck at marketing. They may be amazing at sales, but they suck at systems and processes. So how do we bring some balance to their team, to their leadership style, to their business on the whole?" Kent asks.
The answer is aligning your company values with your personal values (albeit only one stop on Kent's roadmap to shifting your business to serve your life). So the question remains, how does one achieve this?
The answer sounds simple but in hindsight requires a deep dive into your company and what you stand for—and how it ties into your life. To begin, Kent lays out two steps in his Clearing Obstacles program:
1. Be clear on your values for yourself. "Sit down, list them, and then, after reviewing them, discard the ones that don't exactly hit the mark or feel redundant. You have to decide on exactly the words to pick so that these ideas that live in your heart become commitments to yourself, your people, and your customers," he says.
2. Articulate them in a way that others will understand. "It does no good to keep this kind of perspective to yourself. Don't be the proverbial tree that falls in the forest with nobody around to hear it," Kent continues.
Kent gets specific on exactly how to achieve this through a detailed four-step process: Brain-Dump, Define, Refine and Clarify, available on his Clearing Obstacles program, along with some proven techniques for keeping those values alive within your culture, so they don't devolve into mere platitudes.
As a business leader, the company values have to come from you—you're the head of the business and it's your role to embody those values in everything you do. Keep in mind that these values need to be your words and come from the heart, otherwise, genuinely modeling them in your everyday life will be challenging, and the words you throw on your brand may come across as "corporate-speak."
"Establishing the best version of your company's culture with a strong set of company values gives you that edge of clarity that will provide you with continuous guidance for yourself and your team, into the future," Kent says. And in turn, will trickle into your personal life and alight with your best self.
To shift into a strong leadership role in all areas of your life, Dan Kent is committed to helping you get there. Visit Best Self Coaching today to get started.