Work Life Balance
Harvard Business School runs a very effective and inspiring course on Leading Professional Service Firms. This uses a case study method to enlighten and inform those who have to manage other professional people - once described as "herding cats"! As you may imagine the course teaches the way to run successful firms. "Through real-world case studies, the program provides the latest thinking on developing, governing, and growing a profitable service firm."
What is perhaps surprising is that one aspect of the course and indeed one of the most important lessons is that there is a complex and important inter relationship between our business and private lives and they need to be in balance to achieve success in either.
Indeed there is a Harvard Business Review on Work and Life Balance which postulates that managers and employees can collaborate to achieve work and personal objectives to everyone's benefit.
But the concept goes deeper. If a person has a deeply unhappy or unfulfilled personal life perhaps because they spend all their time working at some stage this will all catch up with them to the detriment of their career and family. Senior and enlightened people in industry understand this, even though, and perhaps because, they have very demanding lives.
Brain Dyson a CEO of Coca Cola said in a speech at the Georgia Tech 172nd Commencement Address Sept. 6, 1996:
"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit … and you’re keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for Balance in your life."
Sometimes it is as simple as being conscious of the need to achieve this balance and organising life and work accordingly. It is here that our section on Planning for Work and Life comes into its own.
What is perhaps surprising is that one aspect of the course and indeed one of the most important lessons is that there is a complex and important inter relationship between our business and private lives and they need to be in balance to achieve success in either.
Indeed there is a Harvard Business Review on Work and Life Balance which postulates that managers and employees can collaborate to achieve work and personal objectives to everyone's benefit.
But the concept goes deeper. If a person has a deeply unhappy or unfulfilled personal life perhaps because they spend all their time working at some stage this will all catch up with them to the detriment of their career and family. Senior and enlightened people in industry understand this, even though, and perhaps because, they have very demanding lives.
Brain Dyson a CEO of Coca Cola said in a speech at the Georgia Tech 172nd Commencement Address Sept. 6, 1996:
"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit … and you’re keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for Balance in your life."
Sometimes it is as simple as being conscious of the need to achieve this balance and organising life and work accordingly. It is here that our section on Planning for Work and Life comes into its own.
Other Sources
Here is some other material worth considering.
- The book Work Life Balance for Dummies by Katherine Lockett and Jeni Mumford.
- A Harvard Business Review on Work and Life Balance paperback.
- A Life Coach Directory if you need help in this area.
Personal Examples
Eight O'clock in the Evening. I am a lawyer and we tend to work long hours. However I always thought I spent plenty of time with my family until well into my fifties having this discussion with my now nearly grown up sons. They said when they were younger I never got back before 8 pm in the evening. Maybe I should have asked this question earlier, but perhaps I was too busy!
- Be aware of the need to strike a work life balance.
- If we are not healthy we cannot work or support our family.
- Ask others close to you to get a perspective on how balanced your life is.
