HR Professional - August/September 2008 - (Page 49)

WORK / L I F E BA L A NCE B Y B A R B K R A N T Z-TAY L O R KEEPING YOUR LEADERSHIP PIPELINE ALIVE mployees picked as potential leaders face a workplace quandary: this new leadership post, with all its attendant perks, comes at a cost—the workload is too much to handle in a normal work week. As a new generation of workers becomes qualified for management positions, they bring different expectations than their predecessors. Ironically, the most talented are also the ones searching hardest for work/life balance and choosing to avoid jobs that require 60-hoursplus work weeks. This choice has been called “opting out” and is a growing phenomenon. E Burning out the brightest Some organizations are better than others at demonstrating their value for employees’ work/ life balance, but, by and large, management jobs Placing tasks before relationships As an alternative to opting out, many leaders try to adjust their jobs to make them more manageable. However, when leaders prioritize tasks, they tend to focus on more urgent matters rather than more important ones. The ability to be a coach, mentor and motivator is a valuable part of a leader’s job. Sadly, this relationship-based work, which takes a significant investment of time and energy, is the part of the job that gets set aside during workload streamlining. Reducing the relational part of the job causes a domino effect for organizations. As one-onone meetings get postponed and team meetings become tactical instead of strategic, workers become less engaged. These managers know they need to be more attentive to the needs of their staff. They are used to being successful at Stop the vicious cycle that allows those with the highest potential to opt out of your organization. require a larger time commitment. People who stick to a 40-hour week find their career ascent is limited. Gender plays a role, but not the only role. Women opt out in greater numbers, often to raise children, but men are also leaving to raise families, launch businesses or take extended breaks. And while there will always be bodies eager to fill leadership roles, executives want more than bodies. They want the people who demonstrate the highest levels of emotional intelligence, relational capacity and maturity—and these are the people who are opting out. ‘‘ ’’ their jobs, and frustrated at missing opportunities to help their team develop. Yet re-adjusting requires adding time to the workday, reinforcing overactivity. Some companies do a good job of stressing the value of employees having balanced lives, but then take actions that contradict the message. Stop the vicious cycle that allows those with the highest potential to opt out of your organization. Psychologist Barb Krantz Taylor, MA (www.thebaileygroup.com) is with The Bailey Consulting Group, a firm specializing in leadership development, team building and employee engagement. w w w. HRT houghtLeader. c om A u g u s t / S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 8 49 http://www.thebaileygroup.com http://www.HRThoughtLeader.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Professional - August/September 2008

HR Professional - August/September 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Contributors Leadership Matters Upfront Legal Compensation Human Capital The New Frontier On Message Strategy HR 101 Interview with Annette Veschuren Talent Management Training Work/Life Balance Off the Shelf The Last Word

HR Professional - August/September 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.