Work-Life Balance: A Different Cut

Life-Work Balance
Work-Life Balance: A Different Cut
Stephen R. Covey 03.21.07, 12:15 PM ET

The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man. I’ve surveyed thousands of audiences about their greatest personal and professional challenges. Life balance is always at or near the top.

Much of my teaching and writing in this area has focused on the power each one of us possesses to: 1) take responsibility for, and become the creative force of, our lives; 2) decide what's most important in our whole lives--developing a vision and deep commitment to the "first things" of life and; 3) to then put those first things first and organize our lives around our priorities. For something that seems so self-evident to most people, it’s remarkable how many of us struggle to translate our intellectual awareness into day-to-day practice and decision-making.

Many people simply conclude that they are not disciplined enough. My response to that idea is that it’s usually not a discipline problem at all. The problem is more often that the person has not yet sufficiently paid the price to get very clear about what matters most to them. Once you have a burning “yes” inside you about what’s truly important, it’s very easy to say “no” to the unimportant.

However, when you get beyond the personal, there is another profoundly pervasive cause for work-life imbalance. It is to be found in the painful and surprisingly ineffective way most organizations work. In no way is this pain more clearly or practically manifest than their inability to focus and execute on their highest priorities. Using what we call the xQ (Execution Quotient) Questionnaire, Harris Interactive, the originators of the Harris Poll, and FranklinCovey recently polled 23,000 U.S. residents employed full time within key industries and in key functional areas. Consider a few of their most stunning findings:

--Only 37% said they have a clear understanding of what their organization is trying to achieve and why.
--Only 1 in 5 were enthusiastic about their team’s and organization’s goals.
--Only 1 in 5 workers said they have a clear “line of sight” between their tasks and their team’s and organization’s goals.
--Only half were satisfied with the work they have accomplished at the end of the week.
--Only 15% felt that their organization fully enables them to execute key goals. --Only 15% felt they worked in a high-trust environment.
--Only 17% felt their organization fosters open communication that is respectful of differing opinions and that results in new and better ideas.
--Only 10% felt that their organization holds people accountable for results.
--Only 20% fully trusted the organization they work for.
--Only 13% have high-trust, highly cooperative working relationships with other groups or departments.

The data is sobering. It matches my own experience with people in organizations of every kind all around the world. Despite all our gains in technology, product innovation and world markets, most people are not thriving in the organizations they work for. They are neither fulfilled nor excited. They are frustrated. They are not clear about where the organization is headed or what its highest priorities are. They are bogged down and distracted. Most of all, they don’t feel they can change much. Can you imagine the personal and organizational cost of failing to fully engage the passion, talent and intelligence of the workforce? Can you imagine the waste of time, energy and resources?

The bottom line is, when people are crystal clear about the most important priorities of the organization and team they work with and prioritized their work around those top priorities, not only are they many times more productive, they discover they have the time they need to have a whole life. We have found there are four keys or organizational/team disciplines that produce this kind of freedom and productivity:

--Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important. This means you need to narrow your focus down to the one, two or three most important goals you must achieve. These goals are so important that if you don’t achieve them, nothing else you achieve really matters much.

--Discipline 2: Act on the Lead Measures. After you’ve narrowed your focus to the few key goals you must accomplish, you need to select the few key activities that are predictive of goal achievement and that you can influence on a weekly basis. These are called “lead measures.” These lead measures are 80/20 activities--that is, 80% of the results come from 20% of these activities. The 80/20 rule is also known as the Pareto principle.

--Discipline 3: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard. Once you’ve defined your goals and measures, you need to put them on a scoreboard so everyone knows all the time whether you’re winning or losing.

--Discipline 4: Create a Cadence of Accountability—a rhythm of team-based engagement and accountability.

Want balance in your life? Then sure, get your own act together, but don’t forget four powerful disciplines of execution in your team and organization. You’ll not only produce results, you’ll create your own freedom.

© 2007 FranklinCovey Co.

Stephen R. Covey is a co-founder of the FranklinCovey Company and the author of a number of best-selling books, including The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People. Dr. Covey is now offering a monthly live Webinar series. Learn more at www.stephencovey.com/subscriptionseries.