Reflections by Susie Wee

I was reading a colleague’s post on work-life balance, where she was referencing Jack Welch’s statement that there is no such thing.

Those who know me would certainly laugh if they knew I was commenting on work-life balance, but I might have one valuable perspective to offer– the perspective of a manager of people who strive for success at work AND success in life. Let me talk about a model that I’ve seen work.

As a manager, I need a team that can deliver results and handle the demands of a fast-paced work environment.  But, work demands do not understand family demands.  Work demands do not understand 40 hour work weeks (or 60 hour work weeks).  Work demands do not understand children’s needs.  Work demands do not understand unexpected illnesses.  In essence, work demands do not understand life demands.

While I don’t know much about work-life balance, I did make one realization about some of my top performers.  Basically, there is the mythical 40 hour work week where you work 8 hours a day 5 days a week forever. While this might work for an average or good performer, but I haven’t seen this work for a top performer.  I find it more realistic to think of a "bursty" work schedule.  There are times when work demands bursts.  There are times when life demands bursts.  As a manager, I have found that my top performers are able to accommodate “work bursts”.  They can spend the extra hours when we’re in a clutch.  They go the extra mile to deliver the work that is needed when it needs to be done.  I see them do acrobatics in their lives to get the job done when the demands are there.  On the other hand, since I know they are doing acrobatics in their lives to accommodate the bursty demands of work, as their manager I feel compelled to do acrobatics to accommodate the bursty demands of their lives. In essence, they have done acrobatics for me, so I do acrobatics for them. Together, we try to achieve success and find balance.  So, work gets taken care of when work demands come flying in, and life gets taken care of when life demands come flying in.  Win-Win!

Now, the problem comes in when work demands and life demands collide. Let’s face it, this happens all the time.  When this collision happens, I find the saving grace to come from the team, in work or in life.  I love it when I have teams that work together to deliver their results, and work together to accommodate each other’s life’s demands.  From my perspective as a manager, the team has hit their deliverables and deadlines on time with high quality work. But, under the covers the team has done acrobatics to cover for each other so that one person could care for a sick child or an ailing parent.  When I see a work team operate this way, I have a big smile inside because I know that this team has bonded in a way that will get them through the toughest demands of work and life.

One thing I should note is that having a team like this at work or in life is not automatic. It takes sustained effort to build the relationships needed for this type of teamwork. It means being helpful, even when it’s not convenient. It means being thoughtful to find out when someone needs help, because people in need seldom come out and say it. I find that people who are helpful and thoughtful even when it’s not convenient in turn get unbounded help from their teammates when they are in their time of need.

In summary, I don’t have an answer on whether work-life balance is achievable, but here’s one approach to try:

Life demands and work demands are bursty… and they don’t know about each other. In order to succeed at work, you must be able to work in bursts. In order to succeed in life, you must be able to live in bursts. In order to succeed in work AND life, you need to build teams around you, in life and in work, that allow you to handle those bursts. In order to build those teams, you must be thoughtful and helpful to those around you.

Work-life balance may be one of those mythical dreams, but it’s still a dream worth trying for. Good luck!

So, do you think this approach can work? Have you seen or experienced situations where this approach has succeeded or failed?

I had an interesting experience when going out to lunch with my team.  They took me to one of their regular lunch spots where I had never been.  I kind of vaguely knew where it was, but I didn’t know exactly where it was.

I had to drive separately to get back for a meeting, so we split up in the parking lot to get into our cars.  For some reason I ended up getting into my car and out of the parking lot first.  Since I vaguely knew where the restaurant was, I started heading in the general direction of the restaurant.  But, since I didn’t exactly know where the restaurant was, I had to follow them.  But, I was in front of them.  So, I had to follow from in front.

So there began my little adventure.  I kept going towards the general direction of the restaurant.  But, I kept looking in my rear view mirror to see where they were going.  I looked in the rear view mirror to see which lanes they were getting in, and then I switched into those same lanes, but did this many cars in front of them.  I actually followed them from in front for about three turns… all the way into the parking lot of the restaurant.  It worked perfectly!  And, it was actually pretty fun!

So, why am I writing all this?  Well, I thought it was pretty funny to follow from in front.  And then I thought about how it applies to work.  Sure, as a manager I’m the official leader of my organization.  But, in many ways, my team members “lead from behind” while I lead by “following from in front”.  I mean that I lead by getting the best ideas from my team and others around me and I use these ideas to help guide all of us forward.  Now, I think I have a good idea of my own every now and then, but I’m also perfectly happy to push forward the great ideas that my team members have.  Hey, a great idea is a great idea no matter where it comes from.  And actually I’m kind of proud of my ability to pick out great ideas from my team.

We’re all familiar with the concept of “Leading from behind”.

What do you think about the concept of “Following from in front”?

Have you followed from in front?