Work Life Balance… Are You Joking?
“Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” – Hillary Rodham Clinton
I am a coach and I don’t like to differentiate life coaching and business oriented coaching since I don’t see the two as separate. I would say that most of my corporate clients struggle with problems in their personal life that affects their work, while many of my life-coaching clients struggle with problems at work that affects their personal life. The coaching industry separates the two kinds of coaching by specifying life coach vs. business or executive coach. I think this is consistent with the idea of work-life balance. Work-life balance suggests that one’s personal life should be kept out of the workplace, and the employee is responsible for managing their personal life. However, technology has given employers tools to keep employees busy all the time! Work has intruded into our personal lives and taking work home is the unwritten rule to getting ahead in today’s job market.
Do we ever really achieve work-life balance? In today’s economy aren’t we all asked to do more with less? Less time, less money, less support, less people and yet we need to achieve more. Many organizations promote a work-life balance. These are programs that encourage employees to make the most out of their time away from the office, but how can we? The economy is tough and there are large numbers of talented employees in the job market. This means employers have great talent to chose from and spend less time investing in their employees. Trust me, as a training and development consultant, I’ve experienced when times get tough companies cut development training. As a coach I advise my clients to personally invest in their own training. Career minded professionals take work home with them, are responsible for their own professional development, all while trying to maintain a personal life. Work-life balance, are you kidding me?
I’m tired of the concept work-life balance. This doesn’t speak to my generation. We grew up and saw our parents work for companies that turned around and laid them off. Those companies are doing the same to us! Our feelings about this show… turnover rates of generation X and Y are high. Statistically today’s younger generation average 4 career changes and 10 employers by the age of 35. We don’t want work-life balance we want our life and we are learning to fit work into that equation.
My concept of life-leadership is a shift in paradigm from the idea of work-life balance. Work life balance promotes separating personal and professional life. If you work more than 50 hours a week (typical for many professionals) than there can really be no balance. Life-leadership focuses on designing the life you want by finding meaning in your role at work. More important, if you’re in a career transition it’s important to focus on what you want your work to look like then find a ways to focusing your efforts around developing a career where you can step into a leadership role. In the event you find your life is your work and you love your leadership role in it, than work-life balance is a solution that may help. However I find this is seldom the issue in most traditional roles at work.
Unfortunately for most, longer workweeks may be a reality of employment. Work is an extension of our life. When we hate work it’s hard not to affect our personal lives. In today’s demanding job It is more important that when we work we are doing what we love. Focus on the life you want to have and look for opportunities to step into a leadership role.
