.png)
Most leaders publicly support the idea of a healthy work-life balance. It aligns with the popular adage that none of us, on our death beds, will look back wishing we had worked more. While we may agree that our families and loved ones come first, work-life balance is rarely that simple.
To start, the "balance" we are talking about here is not necessarily 50/50. The right balance can be a moving target and may be different for different individuals or in different seasons of life. Often, the reason we do the work we do is for the benefit of our loved ones. Consider a parent who might work multiple jobs to provide food, clothing and shelter. They may very well be spending much more time at work than at home, but their motivation is still their family.
As leaders, the idea is not to assume what the right balance for each individual is. That's for each of us to reckon with personally. Our role is to demonstrate the behaviors that let your teams know you actually believe in the work-life balance that you publicly support.
Since I've never heard a leader criticized for being too respectful of their team's personal lives, the strategies here are to demonstrate, through your actions, your support for individuals to identify and practice the right balance for their own unique situation.
Get to know them
Take the time to learn more about your team, personally. What does their family-life look like? What are their interests outside of work? This will give you more perspective on who they are and where their priorities lie.
Of course, you can't force this. Some will want to keep it strictly business and that's ok. This step is simply about showing your interest in learning more about them.
No emails during "off" hours
You can verbally support balance and boundaries all you want, but sending emails late at night or on the weekend sends an unspoken expectation to your team.
It's likely that at least someone on your team will feel the pressure to respond timely, which then creates a competitive environment for others to do the same. We've seen this play-out with the increase in off-hours activity that surfaced when the pandemic caused many of us to work from home.
If you need to catch-up on items during off-hours, consider using a scheduled-email function to time the message during regular business hours.
Enthusiastically support time-off
This includes PTO, holidays, weekends, paternity leave, etc. "It's yours to use" is not enthusiastic support. Insist that your team delegate tasks (if necessary) while on PTO so they don't have to check-in or be on call. Insist that they use any time that they are at risk of losing. This leads nicely to the next recommendation…
Use it, don't lose it
It helps to lead by example here which means taking your time off. Your team is going to have a hard time taking you seriously if you are losing time-off at the end of the year after having insisted they do the opposite. As a manager who used to be guilty of losing time, I can tell you that you don't get extra credit for sacrificing your PTO. Time off allows you to re-charge which keeps you more effective in the long-run.
Trust your team
Too often, we believe that we have to check-in while we're on PTO to make sure things are going "right". If you are worried that things are going to break while you are away, you're not managing effectively.
This will be a separate topic on its own at some point, but it is critical that you develop a culture that understands how to cover and delegate tasks. If you have not already built this trust on your team, start doing so and take a leap of faith the next time you're out. Delegate one of those things you would normally log-on for to one of your top performers. Chances are they'll rise to the occasion and even if they make a mistake it's unlikely they will break anything that can't be fixed.
Commentaires