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Nourishing Balance

Each person has a number of life roles they participate in across the lifespan: student, child, spouse, parent, employee, friend, community member, etc. Problems occur when the time and energy demand required by some of the roles at one time become incompatible, contribution in one role is complicated by involvement in another.

Over the past few years I have been increasingly asked questions such as:

  • How can I create a more manageable workload?
  • How do I reduce the level of stress between work and home?
  • What can I do to balance work and personal life without sacrificing career advancement?

Current research indicates that the majority of working Canadians have similar questions. Health Canada sponsored "The 2001 National Work–Life Conflict Study: Report One". The authors, Carleton University professor Linda Duxbury and University of Western Ontario professor Chris Higgins, write that the data "demonstrates that the inability to balance work and family life is everyone’s problem".

Highlights of the report state that:

  • In 1991 10% of workers worked more than 50 hours a week, as compared to 25% in 2001
  • Work-life conflict has a negative impact on organization performance and on employees
  • The average employee donates 5 days per month to their employer
  • Individuals with high work-life conflict make more use of the health care system and employee assistance programs
  • The imbalances are *not* sustainable over the long term

The report makes a number of recommendations that employers, employees, governments and individuals can pursue.

In my own professional work, I have found that individuals can learn to increase their capacity to create balanced and meaningful lives. This can be accomplished by:

  • Clarifying life priorities and examining choices purposefully
  • Communicating needs and feelings - creatively negotiating to meet personal and company needs
  • Acting in a way that is consistent with one’s values
  • Proactively building relationships; creating trust, goodwill, and common ground
  • Managing boundaries: learning how to integrate and separate different life roles
  • Experimenting with new ways to meet competing priorities
  • Anticipating upcoming demands and planning proactively
  • Being flexible, creative, and spontaneous in work, family, and other life roles

Managers and leaders can facilitate organizational balance by:

  • Communicating clear vision, goals, and performance expectations
  • Listening, understanding, and taking action to meet diverse employee and business needs
  • Rewarding performance and productivity, not necessarily time spent working
  • Building relationships among individual and group members based on trust and respect
  • Modelling by living in accordance with one’s own values and by supporting others to live by theirs
  • Valuing what employees bring to the business from their multiple life roles
  • Questioning assumptions and encouraging creative experimentation in the way work is done
  • Increasing organization and employee flexibility through technology and other means
  • Managing organizational change in ways the support work, family and community.

If you have comments or questions that you would like answered, please feel free to e-mail or call.

Wishing you balance, passion and fulfillment in your lifework!

Rob

"It is a very funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it." - W. Somerset Maugham