WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Steven Cesare, Ph.D.

A business owner from Colorado called me the other day to talk about her company’s evolving culture, vision, and purpose. Innately successful, the business owner has spent significant time reflecting on what she wants her company brand to represent. For example, she is not content with the hackneyed statement about her company being the “employer of choice.” Instead, she is intent on marketing her company’s recruitment efforts to applicants as being a “destination employer.” Not a job, not a career, but a destination; crossing the finish line, being content with the feeling of employment fulfilment, experiencing peace, joy, and triumph.

That’s why it’s called a Vision Statement.

A lofty goal to be sure. Ambitious, challenging, noble, consequential.

Prone to openness, dialogue, and feedback, the business owner has had innumerable discussions with employees, applicants, and business partners, which have led to her position Work-Life Balance at the apex of her conceptual drivers to become a “destination employer.”

As part of our discussion, I readily acknowledged the amorphous nature of what Work-Life Balance actually means in practical terms. With that need for definition in mind, I asked her to generate a list of behaviors within the Start-Stop-Keep format, share them with the management team, revise them accordingly, and then cascade them throughout the company to align the message, the expectations, and accountability.

Here are five behaviors you should START doing, to have better Work-Life Balance

Utilizing better time management principles (e.g., do not schedule more than 60% of your workday to structured tasks, start/end meetings on time, use the time management matrix to improve prioritization);
Managing time proactively (e.g., plan tomorrow’s activities by 4pm today, plan next week’s activities by 4pm on Friday, respond to all voice-mails and e-mails by 4pm each day);
Setting boundaries (e.g., adopt a “lockdown approach” such that all work must get done by 5:30pm each day because, metaphorically, all employees will be forced to leave the office at that time);
Planning personal events for after-work instead of working overtime (e.g., exercise, family outings, reading, talking a walk with your spouse, dog, loved ones after work, weekend recreation, hobbies);
Saying no to idle (e.g., inefficient, unproductive, filler) chit/chat throughout the workday, thereby achieving daily time management goals which frees up personal time while at home.

Here are five behaviors you should STOP doing, to have better Work-Life Balance

Communicating with staff/family about work related topics after 5:30pm;
Thinking about work activities (e.g., voice-mails, e-mails, calendars) when home with your family;
Going to bed so late;
Avoiding family, health, and self-care in favor of work activities;
Allowing others to control your time (i.e., it is ok to say you will address an issue at a later time or ask people to wait until you are available, rather than allowing them to interrupt your current priority).

Here are five behaviors you should KEEP doing, to maintain optimal Work-Life Balance

Overcommunicating throughout the workday so you don’t have to send reminder e-mails while at home;
Reminding yourself that you are more than just an employee in this life;
Showing respect to others’ priorities as they try to preserve their own Work-Life Balance;
Role modeling what Work-Life Balance looks like as part of the company culture to all employees;
Accepting that your family, self, body, soul, and loved ones are more important to you than work.

The business owner has pledged to keep Work-Life Balance as an integral part of her on-going management team meetings, one-on-one coaching sessions, and daily priorities thereby institutionalizing it as part of the actual company culture, not just a symbolic aspect of company rhetoric.

You do know that your family, self, body, soul, and loved ones are more important to you than work, right?

If so, how many of those Start-Stop-Keep items do you personify?

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