Having worked with numerous teams across various sectors, one common challenge that employees seem to face is finding work-life balance.
So what is this “work-life balance” and how do we tackle this issue in our highly competitive world? To understand the nuances of this issue, I talked to numerous employees and their families to understand the real problem. One common thread that came to light is time, in fact, the quality time that one spends! Imagine spending a couple of hours with your girl-friend, wife, children, friends, or even with your own self-engaging in things you love doing, of which 80% of the time is spent on your phone. Now imagine spending the same amount of time engaging in some activity or conversation without your phone. That’s the difference between spending time versus spending quality time.
Below is a 4-step process to enhance work-life balance.
- Unearth Expectations: Your stakeholders at home are your family members and friends. One tool you can apply to extract expectations is Stop-Start-Continue (SSC). Ask three simple questions to yourself and to your stakeholders. What should you start doing? What should you stop doing? And what should you continue doing? This will help you set your course.
- Analysis: Analyse the expectations you receive. You should be able to identify some behavioural change required to meet expectations. Write down the behaviours that require change and measure them against likes and dislikes. Read about how you can apply SWOT analysis to your personal improvement project.
- Goal setting: The best way to set your course is to write down goals statements that you wish to achieve at your personal front and list action items to meet your goals. Assume yourself to be a traveller who enjoys the journey as much as the destination. Carefully pen down your actions items as it will have a direct impact on you and your stakeholders. Make your to-do list to be achieved over a period of time.
*Refer to Habit 3 from Steven R. Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
- Action: Sharing your to-do list with your family and friends will build trust and augment the sense of commitment. Involve your stakeholders and look at the opportunity to share responsibility, for example, making arrangements for a holiday, etc. It is also a good idea to share to-dos and objectives with stakeholders at work. That way you can craft a contingency plan and lay down priorities. The key here is to live up to the commitment and do what you say you will do.
Following these steps will not only enhance bonding with your stakeholders but also yield a sense of achievement, invariably creating work-life balance.
We love to hear from you! In the comments below, let us know what you think about the work-life balance concept and if this process helps you.
