How is your work-life balance?
I know it sounds clichéd, but really... How is it?
Several weeks ago a colleague whom I do not know well mentioned a weekend trip he had planned. His eyes lit up and his excitement was contagious, as this very busy and influential man told me he was “going off the grid” to visit a place he had never been before, with the intention of reading a few books. The relish in his eyes as he said this made it impossible not to feel joy for him. Up until then, I had assumed he was a workaholic as I had been for many years myself, one of those people whose life and job mesh together without boundaries, who lie awake each night reliving and (inventing new) job-related stress. I smiled from my heart as I said, “Good for you!” It is always refreshing to see people honor and respect themselves enough to create space in life.
Covey (1989) calls it “sharpening the saw.” In the creative process it is referred to as incubation, something I learned from several different sources including Dr. Ron Purser’s lectures on innovation. Whatever label we put on it, the fact of the matter is this. Failure to honor our need for downtime limits creativity and allows stress to escalate. Taking down time not only supports innovation, but also makes us better leaders by improving our mental state.
When I was writing my doctoral dissertation, I had to read some very heavy philosophical (and long) books. I would break up those long hours by taking my dog running in the park. I took my smart phone with me for music and in case of emergency, but it ended up serving another purpose. After a few miles, my head would clear and the ideas from the reading would sort of combine so that the research made sense. I knew what to write! I would use the phone to make voice recordings and write the ideas down when I got home.[1] For many students, taking an hour to experience the sunshine and the park with my dog seemed frivolous, given the demands of the degree program. Yet for me it was a necessary part of the process.
Not only is it part of the creative process, down time is a necessary part of becoming comfortable in our own skins. Self-knowledge is central to good leadership (Cashman 2008). The late Charlie Seashore (2004, 2010) gave inspiring talks to budding consultants and scholars on the topic of “Self-as-Instrument.” For consultants, he said it is important to monitor your emotions, strengths, and weaknesses, and pay close attention to your own energy level while working. This attunement is foundational to understanding how others experience us as facilitators and teachers.
This idea was reinforced for me when some nonprofit executives I interviewed talked of consistently maintaining an awareness of themselves, others, and their environments (Wakefield 2012, 2013a). These very successful people consistently paid attention to all three areas. Cultivating greater awareness on all these levels takes a lot of practice, but it’s worth it. Down time allows us to reflect and cultivate our self-knowledge, which becomes the foundation for greater awareness in every situation.
My training as a yoga instructor drove the point home even further (Matsumura and Matsumura 2011). When teaching yoga, you have to be calm and confident, authentically comfortable in your own skin. This is necessary in order to guide others through a practice that takes most people out of their comfort zones physically, mentally, and sometimes emotionally. At the same time an instructor must monitor the students’ needs. “Who is trying this for the first time?” “Who has a bad knee or an injured wrist?” “Who is having a rough day and needs encouragement?” Moving around the room to engage with students requires a tremendous level of awareness. Again, self-as-instrument is key. Nobody wants to take a yoga class from a teacher who is visibly anxious and not engaged. The same goes for facilitators, consultants, and leaders of all kinds.
This takes me back to my colleague’s boyish enthusiasm. By going off the grid he wasn’t in any way neglecting his demanding job. By recharging his batteries he was improving his presence as a leader, boosting his creativity, and honoring himself in a very positive way. He was also demonstrating trust and confidence that his staff could handle anything that might come up- a definite morale booster. I sincerely hope he kept his phone turned off, that he stuck to his plan and honored the joy he exhibited during that brief conversation. Such choices are necessary steps on the path to greater effectiveness as a leader.
So how about you? Will you honor your own need for balance? If not today, when?
Copyright Gly Solutions, LLC (2014)
References:
Cashman, Kevin. 2008. Leadership from the inside out. 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers,Inc.
Covey, Steven R. 1989. Seven habits of highly effective people: Simon & Schuster.
Matsumura, Mike, and Charlotte Matsumura. 2011. "Pranava Yoga Center." Accessed 20 April. http://pranavayogacenter.com/.
Seashore, Charles, Mary Nash Shawver, Greg Thompson, and Marty Mattare. 2004. "Doing good by knowing who you are: the instrumental self as an agent of change." OD Practitioner 36 (3):42-46.
Seashore, Edith, Charles Seashore, and Roland Livingston. 2010. Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Wakefield, Tonya Henderson. 2012. "An ontology of storytelling systemicity: Management, fractals and the Waldo Canyon fire." Doctorate of Management Doctoral dissertation, Management, Colorado Technical University.
Wakefield, Tonya Henderson. 2013a. "Fractal Management Theory." Academy of Management, Orlando, FL.
Wakefield, Tonya Henderson. 2013b. "Ontological storytelling and biomediation." Tamara : Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science.
[1] To see an example, visit http://crow.kozminski.edu.pl/journal/index.php/tamara/article/viewFile/185/pdf_21
(Wakefield 2013b).
