The Art of balancing- Maneesh Menda

The Art of Balancing: Insights on work life and personal life- Maneesh Menda

In early days of my career I was so focused on the tasks in hand and was always eager to finish all I can in a day even if it meant long hours at work. I believed I could sleep peacefully if I finish what I can that day even if it meant I spent no time with my family & friends. One night I was busy working when I had the Head of my function walk across to me. She was someone who used to always leave office on time. She happened to return to work to pick something she had forgotten behind. She was aware that I put late hours at work and came to my desk and asked me a few simple questions.

What will happen if you do leave this work incomplete and head back home? What will happen if you try to complete this tomorrow morning? I told her I will just feel better and perhaps can sleep peacefully. The tasks were not really urgent enough to be closed that night. As she left office she said I would never consider you for a bigger role in our organisation as I find you struggling in your current role. At the next level you will never be able to manage your work. I was a bit disappointed and left that day reflecting on this thought. I always believed that we need to work hard and long hours every day to get career growth and achieve success. I realised I needed to make amends to the way I manage my time at work and get smarter. I practiced the new way of working and started seeing some encouraging results very early.

We all use the phrase " Work Life balance" extensively. The phrase tends to indicate that work & life are two different aspects we need to balance. Well isn't work part of our life? We spend 8-9 hours every day at work and perhaps an additional hour commuting for work. Work therefore to me is integral to our life. So what are we trying to balance here? It is the fact that beyond our work hours & focus on our career and our ambition we need time to have a good life style & be with friends, family and to pursue our interests, hobbies. For me therefore all this finally boils down to how you manage time at work.  

The mantra I continue to follow for many years now is simple but hard to practice consistently. I call it the Ten commandments:-

1) Be disciplined & organised-  Do you start your day at a particular time? Many tend to leverage on the flexibility at work to change the time they report to work every day. I have benefitted by starting my day at least 30-60 minutes before my other colleagues do and also at a set time. It  helps me reduce my commute time too. The first few hours are the most productive as you get uninterrupted time with no meetings/ calls to plan through your day and clear all the e mails. It always helps to be on time for your meetings and calls and also insist on ending those calls/ meetings on time. Many at times we have those long discussions/ debates during our calls and then we run out of time. Instead of extending those calls it is helpful to stop them as scheduled as this may upset your plan for the day.

2) Avoid duplication and wastage- Time is a precious resource. We need to therefore avoid any duplication and wastage. There are loads of opportunities to do that at work. I see many colleagues still make notes on a writing pad and then type them out to circulate the minutes or actions from a meeting/ forum. Why not type them out during the meeting on your note pad or lap top? It just makes it easier to circulate them soon after the meeting. Also reflect on whether you really need to attend a meeting or call. Many at times when I have one of my senior team members attend I tend to excuse myself from the call. Similarly I also would request my team member to excuse them from calls/ meetings I am part of unless it is absolutely important for both of us to be there. Also I know managers who keep doing adhoc calls to team members multiple times during a day. Schedule frequent one on ones in your calendar and try to leverage on those calls with your teams to discuss all that you want to at one go. 

3) Delegate and empower- You will be blessed to have a great team and colleagues whom you can delegate work to. One important aspect is to ensure we also do empower them as they say authority and responsibility need to go hand in hand. It is helpful to follow up but as an operating rhythm trust them to deliver. You need to realise that you cannot be doing everything on your own and also play the role of a checker always on the work your subordinate does.

4) Learn to prioritise- The thumb rule people tend to follow is to prioritise tasks basis the timelines and also basis the requestor. The Senior the stake holder the faster the turn around. I tend to definitely follow the deadline for the task as the guiding principle. However for me tasks that get priority are the ones that have an immediate impact on delivery and impacts my customers. Thus I would prioritise those as any delay from my end will result in my customer not receiving the service or support at the appropriate time. I start my day like many with a simple list of things I need to definitely do today. It helps so that you do not miss out things you need to deliver on.

5) Do not procrastinate- It is human to wait till the deadline and once we get closer to the deadline we try and close the task out. It is so prevalent that when it comes to for example setting objectives, doing assessments, completing mandatory learnings we see completion rates shoot up over the last one or two days. Like the old saying goes- try and do what you can do tomorrow- today and that you need to do today- right now. Many at times there is no need to wait for the deadline and it helps you get the task done very early. It also ensures better quality of output. 

6) Deal with tact – In spite of our best efforts and planning we tend to have colleagues / managers approach us with urgent and unplanned requests. You need to anticipate this. Like they say expect the unexpected. Also people find it hard to say NO. I know colleagues tend to walk across and say can I take a minute and that minute might translate to many more minutes and sometimes hours. Identify those creeps into your diary and politely say that we have not planned for this today so let us schedule time for this later. Also when you are dealing with unreasonable requests try to be firm and polite in pushing back to agree on more reasonable time frames. We need to respect our time and only then people will respect you & your work. We also need to learn to avoid distractions at work. As much as we find some one calling us beyond work hours intrusive we must be focused and dedicated during our work hours and try and push personal calls and tasks beyond work hours. My family members would not call me during my work hours unless it is absolutely urgent and important.

7) Be quick and responsive- It is always helpful to establish all the facts before you arrive at a decision. However there is no point in continuing to have calls and meetings and going down the path of fact finding when the facts have already been established. Learn to take quick decisions. Think before you act but do not think too long that eventually adversely impacts delivery and productivity. I know colleagues who lack conviction and confidence to take quick decisions as they are always worried about the impact of a wrong decision. I do tend to think of the worst that can happen if I get the decision wrong and many at times the worst is not that bad that would actually change the decision/ response I had provided. It is helpful to ensure that the background, options considered, pros & cons of those options and recommended action/ decision is captured so that you can have a comprehensive view to take a decision quick.

8) Be smart and recognise smart colleagues- Do not glorify those who work long hours as hard workers. They perhaps are working long hours to do the same amount of work a smart worker can do in lesser no. of hours. It is helpful to recognise smart workers who can manage work well. Like the lesson I learned early, I tend to give larger responsibilities or support career growth for those who have demonstrated the ability to manage their current job with ease. You need to lead by example as teams tend to follow the leader’s style. We need to realise that quality matters the most and not the quantity.

9) Use you recess time- On days when I have a busy dairy I tend to catch up with colleagues over lunch or over a cup of coffee. It helps you bond better and also help you cover what you had to over a meal. I also know of colleagues who do catch ups when they commute with them to & back from work or during a session at the Gym at the work place. I tend to use my time of travel on road and in flight to go through pre read material for meetings and prepare presentations I need to. 

10) Learn to cut off- It takes a while to come over the trap I was into. We always want to maximise and try and finish what you can in a day. Work will never get over. Every day you will face new tasks, unexpected creeps into your calendar, urgent requests and so on. Plan your day and ensure you follow the plan to the extent you can.

To conclude we all know work is important and so are your personal interests and your wellness. It helps to be more productive if you strike the right balance between your work life & your personal life. It takes time to make changes to your way of working and the operating rhythm you follow. Like they say one size does not fit all. So if my style or what I follow to some extent suits you then good luck.