Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
To get the most value out of your work week it is crucial to work in chunks of uninterrupted time rather than long grinds filled with constant stops and starts for email and phone calls. Yes, the good news is that by managing your energy levels and taking breaks, even very short ones, you can be far more productive and keep your stress levels down.
Tony Schwartz author of the book The Way We Work Isn’t Working, co-written with Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy, has concluded that to be top of our game, we need to integrate both intense periods of work and short periods of rest into the work-day. Schwartz is featured today in a Globe & Mail interview “An R&R room at the office? It could be just what the company needs” by Wency Leung:
Q: Your book suggests it’s possible to get more done by spending less time at work. Can you explain?
A: I don’t think it’s so much about spending less time at work; I think it’s about shifting the focus from time to energy. The more continuously and longer you work, the less incremental return you get on each additional hour.
We are physiologically meant to pulse, and we operate best when we move between spending energy and renewing energy. We value spending energy and we are good at it, but we undervalue renewing energy, even though that’s a powerful way to improve performance.
I urge you to read the article and give this approach a try. What is the impact on your effectiveness when you schedule in several periods for uninterrupted work during the day, with short breaks and periods for phone calls and email?
Posted in Leadership, Thought provoking ideas, work-life balance | Permalink | No Comments »
Saturday, May 29th, 2010
Too much to do, too little time. I can’t think of a single person who isn’t dealing with this challenge on a daily basis. Even the retired people I know report they are busier than ever!
I have had both men and women tell me that they feel they are failing at both main areas of their life – personal and professional because there is not enough time to fully dedicate to both.
Many of my coaching clients come to me because they feel out of control. They are caught up in a whirlpool of deadlines and are desperate to find their way out and back to calmer waters,
In my work as a professional coach I have come across four simple principles that have made a significant difference for me and for my clients. They aren’t in themselves a recipe for success but rather a rough guide to what has worked for some of us along the way. Read More
Posted in Thought provoking ideas, Women lawyers, work-life balance | Permalink | No Comments »Monday, August 24th, 2009
Here on Salt Spring Island it’s blackberry season. People are on the roadside picking berries and everyone is busy baking pies and cooking up jam for the long winter months ahead. Today at the Lawyers Weekly a different kind of Blackberry is being served up – of the smartphone variety.
In the article “Smartphone etiquette: Where to draw the line?” writer Milton Kiang has asked lawyers to report in on their Blackberry usage – the results are just what you would expect from big law firm lawyers:
“Borden Ladner Gervais LLP corporate partner Martin Donner says that according to a legal survey he read several years ago, a lawyer’s availability is what clients value most. Donner says he checks his BlackBerry on evenings and weekends. “I do it because I haven’t left the planet. If there’s something I can do to help out, I’ll do it. Clients’ needs aren’t confined to regular hours.”
Milton interviewed me and asked me if I thought “Blackberries contributed to or detracted from work life balance” and I explained that Blackberries are simply a tool and it is up to the lawyer how they use it.
There are many different types of clients and legal practices and law firms. The choices you make about where you practice and the clients you serve will determine the degree to which you must rely on a Blackberrry.
Mitlon paraphrases me as follows:
“Wolf suggests that lawyers talk to their clients to find out how quickly they expect to receive e-mail responses. Lawyers should also explain how they run their practice, and talk about periods when they can’t be reached because, for instance, they’re spending time with family. “Clients will appreciate it,” says Wolf.
The above quote can be misunderstood. To clarify for the record, what I know for sure is that clients most value a lawyer’s investments in learning about client needs and expectations and in the corresponding delivery of a high quality of service. There are many clients for whom a high quality of legal service is determined by their lawyer’s responsiveness and attentiveness during daylight hours, not whether their email message is answered at 11 pm on a Saturday night.
One lawyer I know was reluctant to get a Blackberry for fear that it would encroach on his valuable personal time after work. What he learned was that he could use it to check on the status of projects while he was out of the office and that he needn’t in most cases respond to messages until the next morning.
The bottom line line is that Blackberries are a great tool. To make the best use of yours make sure to check in on client expectations and confer with your loved ones as well. Develop an approach that balances accessibility to clients and availability to loved ones at home.
In my household I simply don’t have a choice: My Yellow Labrador Retriever just won’t play ball when I am on the phone. If I take a call or start texting she just give me the look, drops the ball and it’s game over.
Posted in work-life balance | Permalink | No Comments »Monday, July 20th, 2009
My July article for the Canadian Legal Blog Slaw.ca was all about work-life balance or more exactly the myth of balance.
The word balance is misleading. It seems to indicate a quantity goal, with a focus on the amount of time being spent on either side of the work-life equation. The exact amount of optimal home time and work time will vary from person-to-person and day-to-day. I like to think that it is not so much a question of quantity but rather the overall quality of our entire life that is important.
What is the quality of our work life? What is the quality of our personal life? When both activities are fulfilling we have an abundance of energy. When one or both are draining we run into health issues and performance challenges.
Instead of work-life balance can we just talk about work-life enjoyment?
For those of you exploring questions of work-life balance and enjoyment there’s now a CBA resource dedicated to it. Thanks to Connie Crosby’s post in Slaw.ca for alerting me to this resource. It’s packed with great articles, links and other resources.
Ultimately, work-life balance is a personal matter. Getting the work-life equation right is a key component of developing a productive, fulfilling and yes, successful life. It’s not about being a slacker. It’s about being a high achiever by creating the life you want to lead.
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