Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be difficult in today’s culture that celebrates being always on. In fact, 94 percent of 1,000 professionals surveyed by the Harvard Business Review said they put in 50 or more hours a week at work. What’s more, nearly half that group clocked in more than 65 hours a week.
In today’s always on workplace culture, where employees are rewarded and oftentimes expected to work long hours and communicate continuously, balance can be hard to find. In fact, more and more people are prioritizing work over their personal lives, tipping the scales toward burnout and stress.
Work-life balance has been around for a lot longer than the Millennial generation. Despite their focus on creating better work-life balance, the term has been in use since the 80’s.
Someone once said “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” Okay, well, it was the sage wisdom of Mrs. Gump, but regardless, it’s a great metaphor for how unpredictable life can be. Sometimes it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, sometimes it’s disappointing, and other times it’s so incredible you need to stop and savor the moment because you know that it’s fleeting. This rings true in every facet of our day-to-day, especially in professional settings. There is so much that is beyond our control, so how we approach life directly impacts our work attitude and how we navigate our workday.
While there are many approaches, there are 4 that have a big impact on success.
Lack of employee motivation costs companies billions every year. Low motivation equals low productivity, poor results and low income. Studies show that 48% of employees don’t really like their jobs, while 80% feel stressed and only 30% feel engaged and inspired. At the same time, 18% of US employees completely hate their jobs.
Inappropriate behavior can happen in any company. As a boss or manager, it falls under your jurisdiction to manage such situations, and fast. When left unchecked, unsuitable actions can have serious impact on other employee’s performance as well as the office environment as a whole.
Everybody knows that motivation is key to doing good work. Company culture has become a popular term among corporate leaders; more and more companies are focusing on creating a culture that fosters motivation in their workforce and you know the saying: happy workers are effective workers. Thanks to an increasing body of research, we’re learning a lot about what it takes to build and maintain a high-performance culture within an organization.
Company culture is a lot of things, put together by a shared history. A co-developed tradition which defines the personality of an organization. Company cultures draws upon a lot of things, while affecting them at the same time. It draws from the work environment, yet influences it. It starts with founders, yet ultimately affects them. The list could go on. Company culture is the personality of your company.
Align teams with your goals, vision, and value and enjoy the ride. It’s simple as that. When you sync teams with the overarching vision, you get maximal efficacy. It’s unbeatable and uncanny. Almost as if each team member acts as an engaged and caring parent. When you align teams, what you reap is what you sow. Full convergence of talent, wits, skill, experience, and know-how. Here’s how to align teams and help them reach short-term goals.
Motivate teams and get every obstacle cleared. Motivate teams and reach set goals. In fact, motivate teams and everything about teamwork streamlines to optimal results.
But in order to motivate teams, you need to be versatile. You need a full range of methods. Moreover, you need to possess special abilities, from public speaking to one-on-one mentoring and listening. Seems improbable? It’s actually achievable.