Either way, in my opinion, it
starts with modeling behaviors. As an example, I had an out of office
message a few weeks back that read like this:
“I will be out of the
office participating on family vacation returning July 1st,
2018. I will be enjoying time in the ocean with my family and will have
limited access to, and will check email infrequently during the day. If
it is urgent please contact…”
A fairly straightforward out
of office message. I was surprised to read about ten different emails
with responses like these sent back to me:
“OK, that is the best out of
the office message. Hope you had fun at the beach! Aloha!”
“Dave- I love your out of
office, specifying how you are spending your family vacation time in
the ocean 😊”
Another leading by example
moment is “leaving loudly”. My team and I read an article a few months
ago about the boss leaving the office loudly (EVERY
day, PepsiCo chief executive Robbert Rietbroek asks his team to do one thing
before they leave the office.) – meaning that you let the team know you
are heading out for the day with a clear verbal goodbye like, “Have a great
night, heading out to watch Jonny play lacrosse”, or “Have a wonderful evening,
meeting my wife Nikki for a dinner date and movie”.
I was a bit doubtful when I
first read the article, but now my team calls me out if I do not
announce that I am leaving. It also reinforces that my family, friends,
and activities are ALSO a priority for me.
Part of being a leader is
your own EQ (emotional intelligence or emotional quotient). Part of the
EQ is understanding the rhythms, the nuances, and the quirks of your
team. As a leader, it pays off to understand who is a morning person, who
is an evening person, who handles stress well, who is my detail person, who is
my creative, etc. Like a good sports coach, aligning the work plan to the
skills of my team makes a big difference. (This is also important when you are
pushing people outside the box for development). It is important to
understand how to assist teams in achieving their balance.
Another tip for me is to
understand what is important outside of work for each member of my staff and to
frequently discuss and support those activities. Sometimes I need to say,
“Pat, you have a basketball game to coach tonight, you need to get going.
Good luck with your game”.
I think that
there is a role for leaders to prevent burnout, but I think it's less about
encouraging balance and more about trying to instill in our employees
self-awareness to understand when they're pushing too hard or when they're
pushing and they don't really want to be. Sometimes I need to help them
step back and truly understand priorities in life. I often say, “are
people going to remember that PowerPoint deck or the impact you had as a
coach?”
As a leader,
with our workforce today we need to encourage telework, changing up the work
week, maybe work from home a day or two to mix it up a bit. I have
written about Wednesday Fun Day – which is our work from the office day (heck,
if everyone is coming in to the office, let’s make it fun). As a leader,
I need to do this on occasion as well. Keep it fresh for the team.
Surprise them. Recognize them.
It can be a paradox: The more
people work, the less productive they may be. In some weeks, somewhere along
the way, my team can find themselves putting in 60 or 70 hour workweeks, giving
up weekends and getting much less sleep. Yet it’s not necessarily making
our team or the workplace any more productive. In fact, it is usually the
opposite. As leaders we need to be aware of this (Hint, note email
times).
A few simple discussions to
have with your team can focus on pushing them to exercise one night a week, or
attend Bible study, or dance class and forcing them out the door, or reminding
them of late fees for childcare, or maintaining a fairly structured environment
to work (when you hold meetings {nobody wants a Friday 5pm meeting}, when you have
due dates and times, etc.), scheduling community involvement activities as a
team, allowing your team to have a great time, to laugh (and if you can make
them laugh at you is all the better), and be flexible with time-off for
personal events that happen in life (deaths, divorce, pet issues, etc.).
Lastly, celebrate!
Sometimes celebrate with not only a day off but taking on their work as well
for that day. “Hey Kristy, I see you have been working hard on the Board
deck, let me handle the legal audit and you take Friday off”. Many times
they will roll their eyes because they do not think the Boss can do the work as
well as them, but sometimes you get lucky and they take you up on the
offer. Either way, the offer in itself is worth something.
Overall,
it’s important to encourage your team to be self-aware about their own
personalities and tendencies, as some people are more prone to imbalances than
others. Through your words, actions, and example, emphasize the need to
continually assess one’s goals to determine what brings satisfaction, inner
peace, and their version of “balance”.
Empowering
our teams to take control over their work and home lives can have a profound
impact on their job satisfaction and performance. As leaders, we must give
balance.
Together.
We. Win.
Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr
Look for us on: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, The Muse, Glassdoor and USA TODAY NETWORK Careers
Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr
Look for us on: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, The Muse, Glassdoor and USA TODAY NETWORK Careers
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