Rummaging through the archive of old
papers at my parents’ home in London earlier this year I came across the
Christmas 1955 issue of the Shell Magazine, whose lead story was about
the opening ceremony at Shell UK’s annual staff art exhibition. My
father’s work was among the exhibits, and indeed the feature included a
photograph of the painting he had submitted of some aubergines and
maize, green peppers and tomatoes, resting on one of our kitchen chairs.
But
let me come to why I am telling you about this. It is because in the
article I read that before introducing the chief guest — the President
of Britain’s Royal Academy — Shell’s then managing director Felix Guépin
advised those present that “it is a valuable thing for men and women to
be able to detach themselves completely from their normal
responsibilities in their leisure hours and devote themselves to giving
expression to their artistic impulses. Their minds and bodies are
thereby immeasurably refreshed.”
Yes, in 1955 the
managing director of one of the world’s leading multinationals was
talking about work-life balance — who knows, maybe because Mr Guépin
also enjoyed painting.
Bryan Dyson, former CEO of
Coca-Cola, was of the same school of thought as the man from Shell. In
his much-circulated 30-second speech on the subject he had us imagine
that life is a game in which we are juggling five balls in the air:
work, family, health, friends and spirit. “Work is a rubber ball,” he
explained. “If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other balls are
made of glass. If you drop one of these they will be irrevocably
scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be
the same.”
So Dyson recommended that we work
efficiently during office hours and leave on time, give the required
time to our family and friends and have proper rest. That is much easier
said than done in this age of instant e-communication, of everyone
being challenged not only with demanding targets but with always doing
more with less. Yet if the CEO of Coca-Cola suggested it should and
could be so, who am I to argue?
Dyson was obviously
not a “workaholic” — the term coined by Wayne Oates in his 1972 book
Confessions of a Workaholic. In it Oates said such people need help,
implying disagreement with the celebrated former CEO of GE Jack Welch,
who claimed that “if your boss is doing their job right they’ll make
yours so exciting that your personal life becomes less compelling”.
Sounds like an unfortunate win-lose!
Many of us work
long hours because we are responsibility-aholics and perfectionists. Are
you? And if so is it thanks to being surrounded by
responsibility-phobics, by sloppy people with low standards? Whatever
the cause, do not be in denial.
Evaluate the room for manoeuvre and the trade-offs. Make responsible yet healthy choices, and live with the consequences.
Make
some new work-life Balance resolutions, sorting your imbalances into
three categories: areas where you can take immediate action; ones where
future action is feasible, leading to improvements over time; and others
where you must simply accept the inconvenience and adapt to it… or
resign and go to a less demanding environment.
Managing
work-life balance challenges us to find ways of managing stress,
including saying “No” when this is justified; distinguishing between the
urgent and the important; switching off when on holiday; and generally
going through life cheerfully and flexibly.
So please
reflect on what you could be doing more of and less of, and please have
conversations about work-life balance with your supervisor, peers and
others around you.
By the way, doesn’t the expression
work-life balance assume there’s an intrinsic conflict between leading a
healthy, enjoyable life and working? I prefer alternatives such as
work-leisure balance, or work-family balance.
No comments :
Post a Comment