BY C. V. MARTINETTE JR.
I believe that everything must be in balance for all things to be in good order. In my trench rescue world, I teach students to understand the art of stabilization from the point of view that the earth is always trying to reach some state of balance. When we dig a hole in the ground, we upset this balance, and, as the hole gets deeper, things keep getting further out of whack.
BALANCE AND TRENCH STABILIZATION
In the case of trench stabilization, if we intercede before the hole gets too deep, we are successful. If the hole gets too deep before we intercede, the earth takes care of the situation itself by collapsing and, as a result, bringing things back into the natural order of balance.
When it comes to nature and its affinity for being balanced with regard to the trench world, we try to trick the earth into thinking it is in balance and all pressures are equal. We accomplish this by using shoring that transfers the energy from one side of the trench to the other and, by doing so, bridge the gap we call a “hole.” Ultimately, all this effort brings balance to the trench, and there is no potential for collapse.
BALANCE AND TEAMWORK
If you observe sports teams, you will quickly see that usually it is not those teams with the superstars that win on a consistent basis. You may say to yourself that those talented superstars certainly make it easier to win. However, if the focus is too much on specific individual ability, then the team usually fails because its members are out of balance.
For this reason, good coaches look for ways to get all players involved in winning. They find ways to take advantage of everyone’s talents so that balance in team chemistry is achieved and all members are contributing to the winning effort.
As another example, think about a work team composed entirely of fast-acting people-those Type As! Not only do they all want to make fast decisions, but also they all want to work faster than the other. Soon, all they think about is going faster; this becomes the yardstick by which the group measures success-not whether the root cause of the issue is addressed or if all of the stakeholders are considered, just how fast they can do something.
BALANCE IN PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
In my private life, I have come to understand that relationships must have balance as well. No two people can enjoy all the same things or have individual idiosyncrasies that are too far one way or the other if the relationship is to be healthy and long lasting. As the old saying goes, “Most things are okay in moderation”; personal behavior in relationships reflects this more than any other type of example.
Think about your friends who have successful “long-term” marriages. I will bet you that they have personalities and traits that are just dissimilar enough to bring balance to their lives. They most likely enjoy some of the same things but not all of the same things. If they are too much alike, then things quickly get out of balance, and the stress of the parity soon causes a collapse, just as in the case of the trench.
BALANCE AND THE WORK LIFE
The relationship/team balance problem also finds its way into our work life. Work groups and teams that have too many people of one type or another soon find themselves out of balance. If all of the leaders have “down-to-business” behaviors, the group may be viewed as caring only about results and not being concerned with the people who work for them. Likewise, if too many team members are overly concerned with operational issues, they could be called “micromanagers.”
The lesson in this for leaders is to seek ways to bring balance to the work group, team, or organization. The leader must understand that to maintain balance, a situation of opposing forces needs to be created-for example, one force pushes while the other force pulls. In this way, the leader surrounds himself with people who complement his style, not because these people are like him but perhaps because they are not. I am talking about the kind of people who will question your views on issues because they look at them based on different experiences and personal values.
I am sure by now you are starting to get the picture with regard to balance, so let’s look at how balance pertains specifically to leadership.
BALANCE AND LEADERSHIP STYLE
There are a number of ways a shift in organizational balance happens. It can come from a superior who uses his personal opinion (or values) as the only filter or who is influenced only by the organization’s external customer groups. It can also happen when employees take a negative swing in culture or “morale.”
Using the wayward superior as an example, consider how people are replaced in positions. Generally, they are considered for replacement when they are perceived by their superiors or influential organizational members to have migrated so far one way that the organization they are leading becomes unstable. Were they heavy handed or too soft, compassionate or callous, or too much a visionary or too much a technician? The examples of potential opposites in behavior and style are endless.
If you don’t believe this happens, take a close look at what type of person follows someone into a job as an appointed replacement. More likely than not, it is the polar opposite of the person being replaced. In most cases, the incumbent will be perceived one way and the organization will be convinced that all things will be better if the new leader exhibits opposite traits.
When this occurs, it is an example of trying to bring about balance too quickly. Since the first leader was so far “one way,” the organization feels a desperate need to move quickly toward balance. Success in this situation will come only when the new leader reaches the point where his style balances the organization. In time, if the new leader is truly opposite, the situation will present itself again, just in the other direction.
As a leader at any level of the organization, you should understand that this type of situation occurs as organizations place people in leadership roles. The lesson in this case is that jobs change, the organization changes, and leaders change. Balance, therefore, is not something you achieve one time and then consider yourself done-it is and should be an area on which you constantly focus.
BALANCE AND PERSONAL LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
The balance we’re discussing applies to a leader’s philosophy or the individual’s tendency to maintain the organization, react to stimuli that dictate change, or provide initiative for change before others can readily see it as necessary. Of course, we all understand that a good leader does all of these things simultaneously and that a successful one balances these various aspects of leadership in varying circumstances.
Problems can crop up for leaders when they stop maintaining matters fundamental to the organization’s success and concern themselves just with the future. Notice I said stop-in this situation, planning for the future but doing it at the expense of operating the organization efficiently on a daily basis. Here, I am bringing clarity to a situation where the leader’s tendency is to become off balance and, for whatever reason, stay that way.
In still other cases, it could be the leader who gets so far behind the “eight ball” that all he does on a daily basis is react to changing circumstances and unforeseen situations. All leaders recognize that daily problems and crises occur; however, choosing to manage only these events on a daily basis doesn’t lend itself very well to effective leadership, because the future of the organization is not being managed.
Sometimes, the leader finds it difficult to consider both the balancing of priorities on a personal basis and the style and tendencies of the members who make up the team. In some cases, it may be practical for the leader to be a visionary because the other team members are concentrating on operating the system and reacting when necessary to unforeseen organizational crisis.
Just remember, there are going to be imbalances in leadership brought on by immediate need and unforeseen challenges. Long-term success for any leader is most prevalent when that leader understands personal and organizational balance and then constantly makes changes in the environment so that balance is maintained.
INTERNAL BALANCE AND THE BALLOON
Now, let’s examine the balance issue as it applies to organizational leadership. In this case, we will look at the balance of leadership in an organization as if it were a balloon. Believe it or not, a balloon has balance in that the pressure inside is the same on all the interior surfaces.
If you think of a balloon as being filled with organizational leadership, you can perceive that the same amount of leadership exists in the balloon at all times and that is what helps it maintain its shape, pressure, and size. That means that all of the leadership in your organization is in that balloon. Formal and informal leaders up and down the chain of command, as well as the employees’ union, are components filling the inside of the balloon. Even the knucklehead in your organization who causes you trouble by spreading rumors that influence employee behavior is in the balloon.
So, how do we keep the balloon in the desired balance and shape? How do we keep the balloon from being overpressured and bursting because of too much leadership? How do we respect the elastic nature of the balloon? In addition, how do we account for and balance the balloon’s internal and external pressure differences? Understanding this dynamic as a balloon is a great foundation for examining how leaders use leadership in successful organizations. Let’s look at some practical examples.
First and foremost, you need to understand that leadership is necessary. Don’t buy into the fact that any team or organization is leaderless. You hear this sometimes when an organization is suffering through poor leadership, but, believe me, someone or something is going to fill the leadership void when the formally appointed or designated leader doesn’t lead. The bottom line is that the balloon will stay full of leadership regardless of who the appointed formal leader might be.
The formal leader should have a fairly large segment of the leadership contained in the balloon. This is not because of position itself (title) but rather because of the nature of the position (strategic) and how it is viewed (figurehead) by the organization’s members. Just how much shifts from time to time is determined by what is actually occurring in the organization at any given time (more on that concept in a moment).
When the formal leader “leads” in proper proportion to the rest of the leadership in the organization, proper balance occurs. There is mutual respect for all levels of leadership and what each level brings to the table. In effect, the pressure, volume, and shape of the balloon remain constant.
Leaders frequently go wrong by assuming that their position/title dictates the percentage of the balloon they have to themselves. The title in and of itself only provides credibility when the leader “walks the talk” and other leaders in the organization respect him for it.
Leaders who find themselves under pressure and who withdraw to seek safe refuge must understand that other persons in the organization push in to fill the void. In some cases, these individuals are good and positive; in other cases, they can be distracters trying to assume a measure of power in the organization. As the leader, make sure you understand that by withdrawing during a crisis or other difficult time as a method to conserve power and to limit your exposure to making a mistake in reality is simply giving the power away. Holding on to anything without investing in it ultimately diminishes its value.
Let’s consider a chief who loses the ability to lead because he violated the closely held values of the organization. As an example, the chief, under pressure, might state publicly his position on an issue that is different from the one he had articulated to a group of employees in a private setting.
Rumors of the occurrence run through the organization, as members view the action as being counter to the organization’s highly valued trait of honesty. Recognizing this void and the chief’s loss of credibility, other formal and informal leaders step in to fill the vacuum and start dictating the organization’s overall direction. They could in some cases more powerfully influence the department’s direction than the chief.
There are times, however, when a chief may want a shift in leadership balance. For instance, the chief may want to influence a political decision but, because of the bureaucratic and political boundaries of separation, he is unable to stand up and voice his opinion. These are times when a chief, having a good relationship with the union, may want to pull back a bit and let it politically advocate a desired position-in effect, recognizing another type of leadership in the organization and using it to advantage. A word of caution here is appropriate: Always make sure your boss is aware of these situations, and make sure your behavior remains credible and ethical.
In still other cases, it may be as simple as a chief’s needing “buy-in” from the members on a new initiative. He might therefore encourage several senior employees to influence department direction. It might also be a situation where the chief may want to let peer pressure correct an undesirable situation at one of the stations. Whatever the case, recognizing these subtle shifts in leadership and maintaining leadership balance in the balloon are vital if the chief is to be successful.
EXTERNAL BALANCE AND THE BALLOON
Everyone who has ever blown up a balloon understands that the balloon gets its shape from the elastic nature of the material of which it is made. The balloon expands under pressure and, as the pressure within the walls of the balloon increases, it expands. When the balloon is tied off and the pressure inside becomes constant, there is a great difference between the internal and external pressure of the balloon.
In our balloon metaphor, we all know that the internal pressure in the balloon is representative of the constancy of organizational leadership. But, how do we account for the external pressure and what that represents? Well, in this case we need to look no further than the external stakeholders who make up the organization’s customer groups.
External stakeholders are made up of politicians, community leaders, business owners, and all measure of customers who could have and do have an influence on our organization’s business. Their interaction with our organization at any given time causes a constant pressure on the balloon’s external walls. The external pressure applied by these groups is always felt and should always be considered when making decisions regarding the organization’s practices and the services it provides.
While working to balance the balloon’s internal pressure, the leader must also recognize the external pressure. In effect, the leader must look for and pay attention to changes that would raise the overall external pressure on the organizational balloon and, subsequently, the internal balloon pressure. A practical example of this would be when a community finds out that city leaders are considering closing a fire station in their neighborhood. In most cases, this would be seen as a very unfavorable situation for a community because everyone wants help to be close by when needed.
As the community leaders and other local activists start ratcheting up the pressure on bureaucrats and politicians to keep the fire station open, a fire chief will find that external pressure increasing. The increase in external pressure squeezes the balloon and, consequently, the organization feels the squeeze.
Since this example is only fictitious, there is no right or wrong decision with regard to closing a fire station. It could very well be that the fire station has served its purpose and needs to be relocated to a better-suited area. The point is that a chief needs to recognize the pressure and do something to balance it externally or internally. If he doesn’t, the external pressure in the form of external leadership forces will become so great that they will crush the internal leadership, and the balloon will ultimately burst.
So far, we have concentrated on leaders recognizing and maintaining balance; however, there are also times when a leader wants to use disparity in organizational balance to bring about success by creating and maintaining (for the time necessary to accomplish some task) some degree of unevenness. Just as in the case of a union’s president advocating a political position, a chief needs to recognize an imbalance and be clear as to when and how the organization will be properly balanced again.
Finally, a chief should recognize that the balloon can burst from over-pressurization caused by too much competing (out of balance) leadership from inside or outside the organization. For instance, if all the leaders in the balloon want the same amount of individual volume as the chief, the subsequent pressure will surely cause the balloon to burst.
We need to look no further than what happens in a crisis to see the positive aspects of organizational balance. Say your balloon is flying along very nicely because you have considered all the aspects of internal and external balance and, all of a sudden, something comes along and puts a hole in it.
At the point where your balloon starts to lose air, it is necessary for all leadership resources (read all employees) to step forward and make the repair. If you have failed to recognize the value of these people and have not placed them in positions that bring balance to the organization, they will not be available to fix your leaky balloon.
One final point to ponder is that an organization is made up not only of people but also of the processes the people become a part of to accomplish work. In this regard, an important point to consider when addressing balance is whether the balance is a problem with the people who make up the process or the process itself. Replacing people, no matter what kind of balance it creates, will not fix a flawed process.
EFFECTIVE LEADERS
As we arrive at the conclusion of our balance and the balloon discussion, it should be plainly clear that organizations, their leaders, and the challenges they face are much more complex than a balloon full of air. Leadership is more extraordinary than ordinary and in this regard does not need to be constantly applied by any one person in the organization to achieve success-it takes multiple leaders at all levels of the organization for it to function well.
As effective leaders, you should do the following:
• Help employees understand the broader implications of personal and organizational balance through continuous discussions of vision, values, and purpose,
• Recognize internal and external shifts or changes in both personal and organizational balance and the causes of those shifts.
• Make timely adjustments in balance before it goes too far in any one direction so as to affect organizational progress and effectiveness.
• Recognize the defining moments in your organization and personal life when there is a need to create unbalanced leadership and then the most appropriate time to rebalance the situation.
• Understand that the ownership for balance rests with all of us who consider ourselves leaders.
The key to understanding organizational leadership is to appreciate and understand that through all of this shifting of internal pressure and the effects of external pressure, a leader needs to do his best to manage the balance and to try to keep the balloon the same size, shape, and pressure. Effective leaders understand that the organization (balloon) is elastic and are always mindful that it could burst from too much internal pressure or be crushed through too much external pressure.
One of the most important elements in organizational leadership is grounded in the balance you build into the environment in which you operate. Maintain balance, and you will maintain progress and the success that moving forward will bring to your efforts. Don’t be afraid to share the leadership responsibility when necessary, and in all cases recognize that maintaining constant leadership in the balloon is necessary for success. The trick is to know what part of the balloon you want to maintain and when some shifting in this area is necessary to achieve success. Remember, organizations, just like the universe, are always seeking balance and will find it with or without your participation.
Having open and honest discussions with the organization’s formal and informal leaders is paramount to a leader’s success in maintaining leadership balance. This is where the value of good relationships with employees lends itself to success. The employees know that in some cases you, their leader, are willing to give up power and share it with others in the organization if this is what maintains leadership balance and takes the organization toward its desired goals. They will also know that you are comfortable in your leadership role because the message sent to the organization is that you recognize that everyone is a leader and you are willing to share that responsibility with them.
The fact remains that long-term, successful incumbents in any leadership position find a way to create personal and organizational balance. This is accomplished by modifying their styles over time or by recognizing the wisdom of surrounding themselves with people who bring balance to their team.
At the end of the day, perhaps the most effective leaders among us are those who manage to lead, maintain balance, get things done, and also accommodate the elastic nature of their organizational balloon. ■
■ C. V. MARTINETTE JR. is chief of Lynchburg (VA) Fire & EMS, an instructor IV with the State of Virginia Department of Fire Programs, an Incident Support Team operations officer, a task force leader for Virginia Task Force II of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Urban Search and Rescue Program, and a FEMA rescue specialist instructor. He has a bachelor of science degree in fire administration from Hampton University and a master’s degree in public administration from Troy State University. He is a graduate of the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program and has received the designation of chief fire officer by the Commission on Chief Fire Officer Designation. Martinette is the author of Trench Rescue (Jones & Bartlett, www.trenchrescuebook.com) and lectures nationally on specialized rescue operations and fire service leadership.
