I recently ran a free training session on Exploring your Work Life Balance, something very familiar to anyone who has had life coaching. In fact, the Balance Wheel gets pulled out at leadership development programmes when looking at resilience, goal setting, or even time management. It’s a wonderful, flexible, and versatile tool to have in anyone’s personal tool kit, and it still has relevance decades on.
Over the years, what I’ve learnt is that the more you can personalise coaching and training, the more effective it is. Plus, by adding the IKEA Effect, whereby you value something more that you’ve built; by creating your own bespoke Work and Life Balance Wheel, it will have more meaning and motivation.
During the session, it was interesting to hear what was important for the attendees when it came to their work and personal lives. Some were looking to live a more values-based life, others it was how they could find more meaning, and for some, it was related to how they could be of greater service. It was a good reminder that just because having more fun and social interaction was important for some, it wasn’t for all. Taking stock of what is important in our world of work was a timely reminder of what we want more of.
Interestingly, for most of the attendees, coming up with work criteria was far easier than thinking about what is important to us in our personal life. As managers and leaders, we can get tunnel vision when it comes to compassion, care, and support, assuming that it goes in one direction – namely, to others. Yet, when faced with the question of what is important for us personally, it’s outside our vision.
In leadership, we talk about the 5 Positions of Leadership – Inner, Sensing, Leader Behind, Beside, and In Front. It’s not a coincidence that the first position is all about your Inner Leader, all about ‘self-acceptance’ and ‘identity’. To be the best manager, leader, and parent, we need to know who we are and what is important to us. Hence, understanding what we need to feel in balance, in control, and feeling happy about our life.
If you’d like to ask me more about your Inner Leader or the Wheel, then get in touch.