Work Life Balance. Over the last few weeks I have had several young professional women thinking through their career and asking for perspective. In one case I have been mentoring as the professional worked to get more breadth in their job and when approached by a recruiter they interviewed and decided to accept the new role in a more dynamic group. In another case the professional woman is in her mid-twenties and much earlier in her career. She is just approaching year one of her first job and was being asked to state her five year plan.
For both of these women they are working through looking at their 30's and sorting out their desires around marriage and family side by side with work. And in each case
they definitely feel that they cannot speak directly to their goals to have a family with and around work and career paths. In the new professionals' situation she felt that she was being coached by several of us around her to just focus on what she wanted next from her work and answer the five year goal consistent with her short-term goal. As she thought out five years she wonders if she will want to be having kids and sees the struggle to have young children and work daily. She cannot see where she wants to be in five years right now.
Work Mom Balance. As we talked through that I had had my son and worked full time shortly after birth and with a live in nanny and a job with less travel for two years found it to work. We discussed how I waited until I was 35 as I wanted to hit a certain level of achievement and confidence at work...before I had a child. I had to say that I have worked every year after on what was going to be my work life balance patterns. And I have used resources, coaches and peers to get ideas. So it is a constant assessment and process to me to have a game plan that I am actualized to and operate within that plan. This has decreased my second guessing myself in daily or weekly situations of choices of what work or child events to go to and which to miss.
Work Culture. There was another level of the conversation in each case. These professionals were sorting out which conversations they could have with their boss, their bosses boss, a Human Resource contact and their friends and family. They were pleased and disappointed at times at work with the dialogue. And they were working through an actualization to a reality that they were having to find a balance of open and closed areas in their work life balance conversations depending on the personality and culture at the office.
Tina Fey. My husband, sportswriter, put an article on Tine Fey in front of me (Saturday Night Live first female Head Writer) where Tina spoke to working on the struggle of loving work and loving being a mom and finding a way to get the job done. Tina shared examples where the writer team headed home with her at her child's bedtime and continuing to work with the team after her child was placed in bed. It reminded me of my Frito-Lay Florida team being willing to come around my dining room table just after son Ben was born to finish up the business plan. This was in '96 and my boss and team was so appreciative of my wanting to keep the business at its best...and I was learning to say hey to help I need you guys to come into my home. And truly this was a "first ever" for all of us in working out the world of work life balance.
Closing thoughts from Lisbeth McNabb. Work Life Balance at each age and stage. Take the time to reflect, listen to others, borrow the ideas you like, and keep your picture of short term and longer term what you want from life in mind. Picture work and family and what does that look like week to week. Then make the tradeoffs knowing that the picture can fill in over the month. And keep learning.
Comments