Forget Work-Life Balance - Be a Better Leader, have a Richer Life using an Integrated Approach
Are you like Jack Donaghy, thinking you should have worked more, as you lay in a hospital bed after a cardiac incident? Paul Michelman, HarvardBusiness.org talks with Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life
The other parts of our life affect our work. Friedman explains how work-life balance is the wrong metaphor because it implies tradeoffs, giving up one part to do another part. We should use a total leadership approach by being real, whole, and innovative:
- Be real - act with authenticity by clarifying what is important
- Be whole - act with integrity by respecting the whole person
- Be innovative - act with creativity by continually experimenting
Friedman recommends that integrate the four parts (work, home, community, and self) of our life rather than making tradeoffs. Work-life balance implies that we give up one part of life to be successful in another part. He wants us to use leadership to integrate the four areas of our live to generate support and meaningful change that better for key stakeholders and us. To start, we should do some introspection in these four areas:
- What really matters to you?
- What legacy do you want to leave?
- What are most important parts of your life?
- Where do you focus you time and attention?
After answering these questions, we must understand the performance expectations of key stakeholders and mutual expectations in each area, allowing us to get a new perspective on change. What can you do at the tactical level to execute on Friedman’s approach? He recommends changing the where and the when in getting things done by working from home one day a week, time shifting, or shut off Blackberry for a block time each day. The primary goal is total leadership, leading change in all four areas in your life. Or, you could disregard, pursing a work-life balance like Jack.
Recommended Reading List
- Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life
- Harvard Business Review article, Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life
by Stewart D. Friedman
- Work and Family - Allies or Enemies?: What Happens When Business Professionals Confront Life Choices
by Stewart D. Friedman and Jeffrey H. Greenhaus
I agree with respect to junking that “balance” metaphor. It’s inherently limiting when it doesn’t need to be that way. Time may be finite, but our ability to improve on both elements of our life simultaneously is completely hamstrung.