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Finding Balance in Your Career

For those of you who can actually find the time to sit back and read (anything), you might have read Daniel’s Petre’s Father Time (Macmillan – 1998). Despite being written many years ago, it is still highly relevant.

Petre’s theme is simple and one which rings true in the fashion & retail context.

“Take a successful senior male executive with all the trappings – status, power, money and control. He becomes a father and suddenly an aspect of his life becomes chaotic. He gets home at arsenic hour when the baby is crying, the toddler has a dirty nappy and the preschooler is falling asleep at her dinner.

“This is a place where his status and power mean nothing. He feels incompetent and retreats to his work, finding excuses to stay later and later. On weekends he finds it easier to work than to do stuff with his kids.”

The result, says Petre, is that generations of children are growing up fatherless. The live to work ethic versus the work to live philosophy also comes under scrutiny. A balanced life is one, which uses time at work efficiently while also providing dedicated time for family and personal pursuits.

While Petre focuses specifically on the relationship between father and son, the prevailing corporate culture demands an executive’s total commitment, and the argument is equally applicable to men and women.

Evaluating your productivity in your workplace is a good starting point. Maximise Productivity in the time you have available in the office, setting clear objectives at least weekly. Avoid carrying over priorities from week to week.

Focus on the big issues – too often fashion & retail staff get bogged down on the menial tasks at the expense of the big issues. Work smarter, not longer.

Establish some rules in the workplace about out of hour’s commitments. The nature of our industry means there will be an impact on your family and personal time, but keep it in balance. Have the courage to question the need for you to attend all those meetings and events. The strength of an organisation can be evaluated on its capacity to work as a collective rather than having a dependency on one unit for its success. It’s no coincidence the best managers also exhibit strong time management and delegation skills.

When you have a family or personal commitment, diarise it, just as you would any other important business meeting. Resist the pressure to change it. While attending your children’s big events (Athletics and Swimming carnivals etc.) is a good start, try to have a presence at other times where the focus is not just on performance or results.

Find some time for the most important person in your life – you! There’s nothing wrong with taking some time off to do things for you. Maybe come into the office later once in a while, find some time to exercise and make it part of your weekly activity. Being more relaxed can lead to improvements in both productivity and creativity in the workplace.

Invest time in your organisation to develop a work culture which not only respects and values the family, it prioritises family issues appropriately against work goals. These aren’t easy things to do. You’ll need to challenge your peers and examine what is really important in your life. You’ll find detractors more often than supporters, arguing managers need to be strong, focused, committed and leaders by example – qualities which I would argue are more likely to be evident in managers who lead a balanced life rather than those single dimensional managers.

Above all else, start the talk. You’ll be surprised how many people will understand exactly what you’re saying and how pleased they are you’ve finally said it.

RM – People Recruitment Group

Republished from 2018

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