![]() ![]() ![]() There are lots of jobs executives, managers, consultants where the “live to work” culture is endemic, apparently “setting limits” is an approach with growing appeal. It’s also not really sustainable for the individual – leading on occasion to chronic illness. It’s hard to sustain a partnership if you never see each other. However the trade-of is the impact on relationships with family and friends. He went on to talk about the measures he has in place to have time with his children but it was very clear that for him it was OK to put all his energy into work. One speaker at a recent training course was scornful of aiming for a work life balance saying that afterall it’s all part of life. This approach requires a lot of energy, but the rewards in the work sphere are really high. No sacrifice is too great as long as the work gets done. Focusing on the job is the number one priority and all your energy goes into the work. I’m sure you recognise the pattern, maybe you use this approach. From the work perspective this shouldn’t be a problem provided the role doesn’t require undue flexibility, the work culture can accommodate it and the person has realistic expectations in relation to career progress. But there can also be a trade-off, if your manager needs more from you and sees that you place a much lower priority on work you’re unlikely get that juicy assignment.Īs a manager it’s important to know that some people have this attitude to their work, they’ve sold their skills and attention to you for a certain number of hours per week and that’s how they manage their commitments to work and family. This choice can make it easier to manage commitments to family, friends, non-work interests and self. But for many roles it’s just not realistic – even in regular office jobs people often need to be more flexible. The idea of turning up at 9, leaving at 5 has a certain simplistic appeal. But people still place different priorities on each quadrant, and find a different pattern to balance their priorities. One definition of work-life balance says that you should find both achievement and enjoyment each day in each of four quadrants of your life work, family, friends and self. So what happened to the work-life balance? I could feel the words “she’s insane” scrolling through my head, but really I’m not much better having worked a couple of 12+ hour days this week. ![]() No she’s not a shift worker, she and a colleague had worked through the night. The first thing I read this morning was an SMS from a friend who’d just finished work, at 5am. It also helps that I’m the only one of my team in the office I work in – that reduces the rate of interruptions. I fill in my calendar to plan important tasks to protect that time and have fewer interruptions as a result. I’m better at discussing expectations and planning time ahead. We all need to spend time with family and friends, we need time to eat well, to exercise, and to sleep properly. Having come through it, I’m a big fan of setting limits. I had a great team and a good boss – and I think that’s they only we all go through it. We were working long hours, on tough questions, in an environment of high uncertainty. At the time I was working for a financial institution in the middle of the financial crisis. One of my earliest posts was about the work-life balance, and four ways to think of having it. ![]()
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