As Abhijit says:
To be ahead of the competition, we are all putting in longer hours at the workplace. How many of you still pursue the hobbies and sports that gave us so much joy and meaning when we were growing up. If we revived them today, those would rejuvenate us and prevent burnout in the workplace. WLB means being able to find the time for the roles that rejuvenate. That could mean being with family for some or listening to music or going for a trek to discover Nature.
And Rob blogs about a book;
Larry Winget's book It's Called Work For a Reason: Your Success Is Your Own Damn Fault is one of the most unique business books I have ever read. The gist of the book is that stuff doesn't get done at your office because people aren't working, they are goofing off.
So what is the option to these two extreme positions? Between achieving success by sacrificing life or by choosing life and sacrificing the normal trappings of success.
The disconnect is that we have different expectations from work. For some of us, work is the path to a good life. We do not necessarily love what we do, but we do it for the things we get materially or emotionally by doing it. The car, the apartment, best schools for the kids.
For others, the reason of work is not the ends but work itself. As Karthik mentions in his email signature, a quote by Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes - "the profession is its own reward"
The first group of people want or aspire for Work Life balance. That's because in their minds the two are distinct entities. For the second group, work is life and life is work. There is no way they can segregate the two.
Both these groups look at the other and thinks they are better off than the other side. But are they really? Who are we to say?
Which group do you belong to?
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A wise friend once gave me this advice about marriage (slightly paraphrased)... "If you try to keep score in your marriage day-by-day, then you're going to be disappointed, because the balance happens over months and years, not hours and days." (Thanks Rick W!). To me it's the same with WLB and that's how I coach employees. There are jobs, or phases of jobs where I've been able to be really disciplined about quiting time and keep the laptop shut at night, but there are also crunch times in any role, and some of my jobs have required more 24/7 attention. Those times are tough on family but as long as our score-keeping is over the long haul it's worked for us. I've also turned down jobs because they came at a time when family needed to take priority. Point being I believe we all need to take control of our work-life destiny.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, there are steps organizations can take to encourage balance. From my experience it's easy to talk about WLB, put slogans on the company home page, etc., but if it's not part of the culture it's just not going to happen. A key first step is breaking the perceived linkage between effort (or hours logged) and performance. We're in the midst of this change in my current organization and we've had lots of tough performance discussions with/about people who are putting in crazy hours but don't necessarily have the results and impact to show for it. As we're watching the shift in values from effort to results, it diminishes the importance of the 6pm+ face time. It's a painful shift and won't happen overnight, but I think a WLB initiative has to come from the core values of the company and tie to rewards and opportunity for it to be truly impactful.
Dave Polacheck
For many potential career women striking a balance between home and work is often too challenging and they are lost to the workforce.
ReplyDeleteThe 7 Got-To-Do Habits of the Successful Career Woman:
1. Set limits on work time.
2. Know when, and how to say ‘no' gracefully.
3. Put people over things, never things over people.
4. Get organized so you can use your time and energy efficiently.
5. Establish rules and routines in your home.
6. Do what you're good at, and let others do the rest.
7. Look after yourself - mind, body, and spirit.
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