Three Simple (But Powerful) Ways to Build a Culture of Care

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Workfront research found three reasons why people experience work-life imbalance.

The number one reason? A bad or overbearing boss, according to 60% of people. Ouch.

Another 39% said the imbalance stems from working beyond standard hours, while 39% reported the lack of harmony is due to inflexible work hours.?

During Tuesday’s livestream, I shared why creating a culture of care swiftly dismantles this whole “bad boss” idea –?and exactly how to do it.

It starts with:

A new approach to work-life balance

People often ask me, “Charlene, how do you do it all?”

My quick answer is I don’t!

That’s one of the reasons I’ve been so successful. I learned a long time ago that trying to do everything – be a high achiever at work and be the best parent ever – wasn’t possible.

So my solution is to forget the old idea of work-life balance and do this instead:

1. Aim for harmony. Accept that there is no perfect balance and identify the places you’re willing to make tradeoffs. The reality is, life is a series of less-than-optimal compromises and tradeoffs. It’s not about trying to balance it all and do everything perfectly – it’s about finding harmony. One poignant example that comes to mind was explaining to my son how I’d always be there for him. But sometimes I had to pay attention to work, too. Is it a perfect balance? No, but I’ve found a harmony that works for me.
2. Define what’s important. What do you really want to accomplish? What are your goals? What are you willing to sacrifice? What won’t you compromise on? If you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, it’s difficult to draw a line in the sand. My goal was never to be the top person at a company; it was to do meaningful work, produce great research, and make my clients happy. At home, I wasn’t going to constantly volunteer at school. But I made a commitment to walk my kids to school in the morning.??
3. Wield the power of “no.” When you’re grounded in your goals and know what you’re willing –?and not willing – to do, it’s easy to set boundaries. That makes saying no much more comfortable, whether it’s “No, I won’t take on that extra assignment” or “No, I won’t make cupcakes for school, but I’ll buy them for birthday parties.”?
4. Practice self-care. Exercise, eat well, meditate – all great forms of self-care. But one of the most important pillars of self-care is connection. One day, I woke up and realized I’d let all my friendships lapse. So I intentionally solidified my relationships, doing double duty by going on walks with friends, combining business trips with visiting friends in far-flung places, or calling a friend on my commute. It was a constant juggling act, but I learned what I needed to sustain myself. It might look different for you, but make sure you’re filling your cup!

Great, that’s a helpful starting point to create harmony for yourself. But how do you do it at work? How do you show your employees that you care about them –?not just as employees but as people?

Three easy ways to build a culture of care

No one sets out to be a bad boss. (At least, I hope not!) You want your employees to be among the 31% who strongly agree that their employers care about them as a person.

To do that, you have to create a culture of caring. Here are three simple ways to build it into your organization.

1. Show that you care. Demonstrate that you care about the whole person and understand that work impacts how we feel at home and vice versa. Don’t ask your team to compartmentalize their feelings and their lives. No one will feel comfortable extending themselves at work and tackling huge, audacious challenges if they aren’t allowed to talk about work AND life.
2. Set boundaries. 60% of people want more control over when and where they work, so offer them flexible work schedules. But set clear expectations around what that looks like. For example, my email footer says, “My working hours may not be the same as your working hours. Please don’t feel obligated to reply outside of your normal work schedule.” You could also try setting meeting days and times, something we did successfully at Altimeter. Instead of carving out time to work or for our personal lives, we said, “These are the only times meetings are allowed,” freeing us up for a flexible schedule the rest of the day. I’m also very cognizant of setting deadlines in a thoughtful, purposeful way. Deliverables are always due on Friday afternoons, not Mondays. No one wants to work through the weekend with a deadline looming over their head!
3. Lead by example. Are you modeling harmony? Do you talk about it? Do you make it a priority? Do you clearly outline expectations? Do you take vacations? One leader sent out an email about work-life balance late on a Saturday night – how ironic is that?! Sure you can write emails over the weekend, but schedule them for delivery on Monday morning. Be very careful about doing what you say versus just talking about it! You have to model harmony!

Here’s why this matters: 21% of employees with good work-life balance actually work harder and almost 90% of human resources professionals report a positive link between flexible work and employee retention. As leaders, we have to strive for harmony and create a culture of care if we want to inspire our employees to be disruptive and drive change.

Next week, I’m sharing one very specific way to show your employees you truly care about them. It will radically shift your employee relationships – and really create a culture of care. I hope you’ll join me on Tuesday, August 23 at 9 am PT to learn more!

Your Turn

How do you maintain harmony between work and life? Do you have any best practices to share? I’m curious, too, as a leader, how you encourage harmony amongst your team. Tell me in the comments – I’d love to hear from you!