Empowering Work-Life Harmony The key to Sustainable Success
Nick Robeson
Connecting great companies with great leaders. Managing Partner, United Kingdom & Ireland.
Empowering Work-Life Harmony: A Key to Sustainable Success
In today's fast-paced and interconnected world, achieving a healthy balance between work and personal life has become increasingly challenging. I struggle with the word balance as in its literal interpretation suggest one thing struggling against the other for equilibrium. Harmony on the other hand suggest full integration of all personal and professional aspects of life.
As a chief executive, I firmly believe that embracing work-life harmony is essential not only for the well-being of my team but also for driving productivity, engagement, and long-term success.
In this post, I will discuss the importance of work-life harmony and how we can empower our senior leaders to implement effective strategies that foster this crucial modern aspect of an effective culture.
I have really struggled in the first half of this year to get this right as our sector has faced real challenges driven by an unbelievable sluggish private capital market and the slowdown in the tech sector. Whilst signs of recovery are now with us, I know my colleagues and family saw my stress levels rise.?It didn’t help perhaps that there was no rugby to be played, which is where I usually get to let of steam and my marathon training, whilst assisting in reducing my waistline, did not seem to enhance mood!
Work-life harmony goes beyond the traditional concept of work-life balance. It recognizes that our personal and professional lives are interdependent and aims to integrate and align them harmoniously. Instead of seeking a strict separation, we strive to create an environment where individuals can seamlessly blend their work responsibilities with their personal aspirations, resulting in a sense of fulfilment and balance.
Our rapid assimilation of hybrid working created a watershed moment in relation to the relationship between employee and employer. Whilst the initial fear of mass resignation and empty offices has subsided it would seem the key to effective retention now is trust and a recognition that if the job gets done in an effective, profitable, and timely manner it shouldn’t matter how or indeed where the resource manages their effective effort.
Your senior leadership team plays a pivotal role in cultivating work-life harmony. By empowering them to implement appropriate strategies, you not only demonstrate your commitment to employee well-being but also foster a culture of trust, accountability, and engagement.
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Benefits of Work-Life Harmony:
Empowering your Senior Leadership Team:
By embracing work-life harmony and empowering your senior leadership team, you will create an organisation that values the holistic well-being of its employees. This not only enhances individual satisfaction but also drives productivity, engagement, and long-term success. Commit to fostering a culture where our employees thrive both personally and professionally. If you achieve this, you will create an environment that sets you apart as an employer of choice.
Finally, hence the picture, I watched a groundsman mowing the lawns of a premiership football pitch recently and wondered if indeed that was the best job in the world, although I am sure it comes with its own pressures. My recent release was to take myself away to Reykjavik for three days for a bit of sightseeing and thermal spa indulgence, providing myself with the headspace and rebuilding my energy to put full focus into the remaining 6 months of the year.
If you have found this insightful please share and/or comment below. Have you got work-life harmony and if so what's your secret?
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Partner & Global Practice Leader - Healthcare & Life Sciences at Boyden
1 年Great read and interesting comments - companies in my sector (life science) are finding it a challenge to get staff (that can work hybrid) back into office when the colleagues they work with are dotted around the world; it's a tricky argument to win. Being present for many, doesn't mean being behind a desk at the office. For many, being behind a desk isn't work!
Interim Manager| Manufacturing, Operations, Supply Chain, & General Management| Business Transformation, Process Optimisation| Helping Businesses Grow by Delighting Customers.
1 年Good post but my observation after some 45 years working for a living is that nothing really changes. Modern tech advances have enabled the WFH option for some people but poor leadership lacking the curiosity to question how poor culture destroys morale & motivation has been a constant trait over the years. From my point of view the depressing truth is that there is an answer out there. W Edwards Deming was the original management guru. His teachings were the basis of the post WW2 Japanese industrial resurgence & the quality revolution that has transformed modern day living. Most useful management writing over the last 30 years has been derivative of his teachings. With respect to this post I recall Deming's oft stated question "by what means? An understanding of his teachings summarised in his "System of Profound Knowledge" provides the intellectual & practical framework to answer that question.
Managing Partner, Technology and Digital Practice at Boyden Executive Search
1 年Interesting Blog, thank you Nick Robeson - I especially agree with the paragraph on Attraction and Retention of Top Talent.
Interim HRD with a strong track record of adding value, leading others and delivering change
1 年Sorry Nick but I take a somewhat contrarian view here. Hybrid working and all it brings in terms of harmony, work-life balance and new ways of working is a phenomenon available to the privileged few. Whenever commentators extol the virtues of this “brave new world” they all seem to forget or ignore the majority of roles, industries and sectors where this is a pipe dream. Discuss hybrid working with your neighbourly steel worker, coal miner, food manufacturing operative, nurse, teacher, Postal worker, train driver, etc etc and you’re likely to have a very short conversation! So why are they forgotten? Hybrid working is NOT the brave new world embracing everyone, it’s a creation in response to a crisis which has been applied to a very privileged few. The sooner we realise this and accept the reality of creating yet another new two tier divisive segmentation of working classifications (anyone remember blue versus white collar?) then the better we will be able to recognise and influence the organisational implications of such. Hybrid working may be the new Kool Aid for some, but not everyone has access to it. Please, let’s not forget ……..