Is your team waiting for your permission to create a balance between home and work?

With an increasing number of people logging in to work remotely, and where a staggering 1.7 billion employees - approximately half of the world's workforce – are now working from home at some point in time (according to the Gallup Organization), having a clear approach to fostering productivity is one of the biggest challenges organizations face today.

In fact, leaders and team members alike are feeling the pressure to produce for work in the space and place that was once solely dedicated to personal activities, their home.

While this new paradigm is incredibly advantageous in terms of productivity, it also challenges the very notion of how we define work. The boundaries set by a specific space for work and personal activities are becoming increasingly blurred.

Simply put, organizations need to create an environment where team members can seamlessly transition from being 'at home' to 'at work.' And leaders not only need to be sensitive to this need in their teams, but they need to lead by example.

The challenge for organizations is to ensure that they are enabling the members of their teams to develop a healthy balance in terms of work-life integration. To do so, leaders need to build an environment where employees can seamlessly transition from being 'at home' to 'at work.'

It doesn't matter if you're working from home or at your desk in the business office.  Here are 4 smart ways to do so:

1. Make it a two-way street. For starters, show your team that you respect and honor the boundaries around PTO, sick days, and vacation time by taking your own as needed - AND not popping up in the office, online, or "taking a quick look at email."

2. Teach your team the power of delegation. If an employee is taking time off, let them do so without having to worry about the non-urgent matters that have piled up during their absence.  Empower them to own their tasks and projects and delegate as needed, when needed.

3. Help them to be present at work (whether in person or virtually). Make the effort not to make employees feel like their personal lives are not as important as their work lives.  Instead, acknowledge that they are whole people with lives and responsibilities outside of the work environment.  

4. Be an example of a balanced worker yourself. Live your own life and demonstrate that you are capable of being efficient, effective, productive, and happy regardless of whether or not you take vacation time. The more you show that work-life balance is possible in the office, the more likely your employees will feel comfortable with their own approach

While these tips seem like "no brainers", it is very easy to get caught up in projects, deadlines, and to-do lists and lose the balance between work and home.  As leaders, we have to remember the beauty and power of balance for ourselves as well as our teams.  And when we do this, we become disengaged, productivity suffers, and worse, we get burned out.

Are you building habits that foster a healthy work-life balance?  And are you helping your team to create better habits to balance their lives?  If not, here are some things you can do to promote balance:

• Designate a space in your office that is quiet and provides privacy where employees can go when they need a breather.

• Encourage personal activity away from the desk through flexible work hours and time off for family activities or other non-work commitments.

Set up resources that allow your team to develop themselves personally as well as professionally.

If you need help figuring out how you and your team can improve work-life balance habits, DREAM4 is here to help.  Schedule a call today and let's close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Please schedule a call today for more on DREAM4 and their impact on organizational well-being and leadership development