Best way to maintain work life balance??

It is said , "If you have a very important task to be delegated , give it to the busiest person. He will find way to manage it ". Now thats what is known as Management. 

yes, it is possible for organisations and leaders to promote worklife balance.

one CEO is known for entering the gate and leaving the gate exactly in time with watch work precision leading by example not expecting people to unnecessarily put up late hours which was seen as inefficiency by the organisation. he was instrumental in turning around the company and raising productivity - this was way back in the seventies.

one professional executive director starts his meetings and finishes them just in time. meets managers once a week only and does not disturb them for the whole week even on the telephone. his table is clear and clears the mail fast and effectively. is a well trained professional manager full of grace and worth emulating individual.

thus leading by example allowing people to manage their time and performance effectively is possible, rather than have training programmes preaching time management or stress management having created the stress already - better have work systems and work culture which prevents stress and treats people with dignity and professionally delegating work with the needed support systems. worklife balance depends more on the leadership and the organisational culture,

while the individual could emulate the system imbibing the right time management practices working smartly and productively rather than find oneself in a mess all the time and overworking killing the day achieving practically nothing being summoned by the seniors now and then with adhoc queries and urgent requirements - making life a drudgery for people calling them on holidays too. and then people are expected to be in time in the morning followed with penalties adding to the irritation - atleast be flexible on this.

workload too needs to be only that much which an effective individual can take during the standard day, could have additional manpower or better technology and work procedures. why aim at organisational targets which do not match the organisational resources with stress for all - in case unavoidable can organisations be atleast humane and compensatory for the hardwork in terms of overtime policies, free meals/tea/coffee etc, drop facility late evenings or on holidays. reward systems which factor the hardwork of the employees all the year round. many companies are sensitive enough but many are not.

one chemical company which commissioned the project and got it inaugurated by the late president RVenakataraman invited only the officers for the evening inauguration dinner. while the technicians cadre qualified science graduates and diploma engineers who slogged 12-16 hours literally each day throughout the year during the project period were ignored totally. they were angered and forced themselves into the pandal and started having the food kept ready for the officers.

one company cut telephone lines for company executives and stopped the unlimited tea/coffee facility once it was decided that the office headquarters are shifting and many had already moved - may be the inconvenience was unintended but why such silly measures hurting people in terms of the demonstrated company attitude seeming selfish lacking refinement in approach, rather than respecting the people who could continue for a while till the shifting is over, causing emotional distress in helplessness.

hope the above case examples exemplify the message of how worklife balance is possible or can be disturbed both physically and emotionally.

individual worklife balance depends on the organisational work culture, while it could be possible to have a world class TQM culture these days through quality and hrd awareness and policies.

regards/kshantaram

BEYOND SHADOW OF A DOUBT THERE IS!

One of the crudest and fastest way of doing this is to allocate fixed times for work and family. For instance work is only from 0800 to 1700 hours. Take a bit of time have a good lunch. Never eat alone. Eat with friends. Encourage people from different strata of your organization to join for lunch.

Make sure you engage in activities at home that contribute to other's responsibilities. Help around the house in fixing or getting things fixed. Help with the dishes after dinner. Help in fixing breakfast when everybody is in a rush to be gone! Make sure you have some repeated activity with each member of the family. Go far walks with your wife for half an hour each day. Make sure that at least one meal, preferably dinner, is eaten with the full family sitting around the table. Encourage your children to tell you what happened in school or college that day. Make sure that no matter what the pressures are this minimum lot happens everyday.

Another way is to say that sundays are what i call totally "internal". Ensure that the entire family spends time at home on sundays. Create family projects. Sit in the same room reading a your choice of individual books. Watch a movie togather.

Now tell me, how many of you can honestly - and i mean honestly - tell me that such a life style is impossible?

One of the reasons we run around like we do is because (in addition to genuine pressures - which are actually small) we need to be SEEN being busy. A sense of image. Is it really worth it for the cost one pays?

ATTAINING BALANCE BETWEEN WORK LIFE AND PERSONAL LIFE IS ACTUALLY VERY EASY. ALL IT REQUIRES IS THAT WE COME UP WITH AN HONEST LIST OF PRIORITIES.

I have been working for the past two years seeing people cribbing about their life and how tiresome it is to have a balance in it.

I would tell make a priority in your life and live...it s more easier that way...