Management 101 - Employee Priorities
I was recently reminded of the importance of helping employees to set their priorities. I am not talking about how to prioritize specific work or deliverables, but more general life priorities which often get lost in the drive to deliver, survive life events, etc. The issue of life priorities has recently arisen on several fronts - general economic pressures, family members dying, babies being born, and generally working too hard.
The priorities are simple - self first, family second and work third - in that order. Although these priorities can be switched it is in my experience that there is a price to be paid, and a potentially high one at that. Nobody on their death bed will ever say "I should have worked more" or "I should have spent less time with my kids." Barack Obama did the right thing to visit his grandmother before she died. I did the same thing recently.
There is a real benefit for me as a manager and benefit to company. Employees who share these priorities tend to have better morale, tend to work hard, and are much more receptive to stepping up to extraordinary challenges. Having work-life balance in ones life and family makes it much easier to achieve balance at work and in turn be a more valuable employee.
The priorities are simple - self first, family second and work third - in that order. Although these priorities can be switched it is in my experience that there is a price to be paid, and a potentially high one at that. Nobody on their death bed will ever say "I should have worked more" or "I should have spent less time with my kids." Barack Obama did the right thing to visit his grandmother before she died. I did the same thing recently.
There is a real benefit for me as a manager and benefit to company. Employees who share these priorities tend to have better morale, tend to work hard, and are much more receptive to stepping up to extraordinary challenges. Having work-life balance in ones life and family makes it much easier to achieve balance at work and in turn be a more valuable employee.
