The mantra of the late 90’s and the first decade of the 21st century is “Be proactive.” And corporations are doing a fine job of being proactive in claiming ownership of the “work-life” discussion.
They’re doing this because when they launch the discussion first, they get to define the parameters—they get to make the rules.
To many companies, good “work-life” balance means providing on-site amenities and conveniences so that employees don’t have to leave work often…and thus, they stay later.
It might also mean that a company allows telecommuting so that employees can work from home via computer, since studies have shown that employees will actually put in more hours per day at home, working online, than at the office.
In short, companies attempt to frame the work-life discussion in a way that is most favorable to them.
The problem is that those solutions generally don’t benefit the employee or enhance his/her life balance.
Therefore, entrepreneurs and small business owners should not try to emulate what large corporations do. Instead, you should look towards owning your own work-life discussion.
The discussions that companies have with their employees about work-life balance are adversarial by nature. At the heart of it, the company wants more work from the employee and the employee wants more time off.
Thus, company-employee discussions are win-lose propositions because they invariable end up being about the corporation versus the employee.
The good news is that this needn’t be the case for the entrepreneur and small business owner. For you, your business and your family are not mutually exclusive—they’re intertwined.
Particularly in the case of home-based businesses, you can do things that most companies wouldn’t allow, such as tend a sick child during coffee breaks, or spend lunch doing laundry with your spouse.
Or you could take a page from pre-World War II life, when traffic in cities had yet to become horrible, and sit down and have lunch with your spouse and kids (pre-WW II, most men who worked in offices drove home to have lunch, since traffic wasn’t the huge issue it is now, and cities were not as large.)
As a business owner, you own the discussion when it comes to balancing your life and your work. You can make trade-offs. If your child needs a chaperone for a school field trip on a Thursday afternoon, you can take off and go (don’t forget to change your voicemail and email to reflect that you’re out of the office.)
David Bohl of Reflections Coaching, LLC, has these suggestions for taking ownership of your work-life balance:
1. Define your priorities
2. Define your work boundaries, such as where you work and what your business hours are.
3. Define possible exceptions to business hours, such as your child’s field trips, doctor visits, birthdays, et cetera.
4. Make a contingency plan for how you will deal with exceptions (for example, “If I take off a weekday afternoon, I’ll put in a half-day on Saturday.”)
5. Talk with your spouse and kids and find out what they’d like as far as time spent with you, and when.
Copyright 2007 David B. Bohl, Reflections Coaching, LLC. All rights reserved.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners need to take ownership of worklife balance discussion - To learn more about this author, visit David Bohl's Website.
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David Bohl
(Visit David's Website)
David B. Bohl has been on a truly unique
journey. Prior to launching his coaching
practice, David gained his life’s
experience and knowledge as an
entrepreneur, business owner, venture
capital investor, and philanthropic
patron, as well as from the hierarchical
world of a global investment bank.
Upon "succeeding" at each stage in his
professional life, David slowly began to
realize that a change was in order. It
seemed that instead of reveling in the
joys of life, he, like most of us, had
bought into a seemingly impossible mandate
- a relentless strive to get further in
life at almost any cost. He divested
himself of all of his business holdings
and began his pursuit of a more enjoyable
and rewarding life. In time, David
established REFLECTIONS Coaching LLC,
where he now serves as a personal coach,
lifestyle mentor, educator, and author.
To learn more about this step-by-step
strategy for Living YOUR Life YOUR way,
and to sign up for his 9 FREE Tips for
Finding Happiness in a Fast-Paced World,
free teleseminars, free Special Report,
free bi-monthly ezine and more, go to: www.Sl
owDownFAST.com
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