Blogpost by Elizabeth Ribons
With all the changes we have experienced over the last 2 years, work-life integration has been a topic that has come to the forefront. For me, the collective change was long overdue and sadly, we had over one million women leave the workforce during these unprecedented times to care for family, personal responsibilities, and because of burnout.
The already obvious problem most were experiencing in how we work was exposed in a very big way during the past two years- leaving companies scrambling to continue to thrive and to develop empathy for their employees and how they were working/living.
The old ways were not working. And change? It is uncomfortable - but it creates opportunities for growth, innovation, and better ways of working and living - if we are able to respond well. Generally, most of us resist change for obvious reasons, and then, usually, something tumultuous happens where it cannot be ignored any longer. (This is both in life and career/business and..history)
Keeping pace with evolving changes in how we work and live is an integral part of NEXT Career & Life. As I continue my work, I see this over and over. Resisting change, then a big wake up, and then assessing, resetting, and reimagining what is next. What follows - problem-solving, innovating, testing, adjusting - out of necessity and an impetus to remain relevant and engaged in life.
Before the pandemic, the term 'work-life balance' had gained momentum and self-care was another popular term to counteract the burnout and stress of how we were living and working. But the term wasn't quite right.
Then, we were all forced to work at home and the "few" who were talking about the flexible work-life idea became the many as workplace futurist, Denise Brouder speaks about in my podcast with her: The Future Of Work
Then the term: Work-Life Integration became popular and discussion around the differences between work-life integration vs. work-life balance were emphasizing how this mindset and the term is evolving -as shown in this recent post from the US Chamber of Commerce
The WHAT
Simply put, work-life integration is a blending of both, creating flexibility in how we manage career and life in harmony. Currently, it is a response to our past experience in life and work, the 'Great resignation' and it will continue to develop. There is no perfect answer but clearly, we are not going back to the old way of doing things.
For me, I realized this 30 years ago when it became clear that (in those years) I would be making the "either-or" choices as I began to develop a larger personal life.
So, unabashedly, I am in big favor of this trend for more reasons than I will provide here but suffice it to say: We can live better - if we manage this correctly. We must be patient with the process of learning this new way of work.
All generations - young to older - have an opportunity to live and remain relevant and engaged in life and career. It may look a bit different and different factors will apply, but that is what is appealing about work-life integration.
The WHY
Creating flexibility in how we work and live puts us at the center of this action to be able to continue to contribute in both career and life. It is not based around selfishness, but an awareness that career and life are woven together and we can be better at both when we identify ourselves first and how we can best show up for both.
"It is where we can - no matter what age - learn to remain relevant"
When our identities are wrapped up and packaged separately, we become stewards to the roles, losing ourselves in them, and as we have witnessed or experienced- become burned out attempting to fill the roles and live multiple lives.
Work-life integration provides us the opportunity to create the work and life we can thrive in. Is it perfect? Is anything perfect - no. But we can choose the best options available or develop and create.
Companies now are far more open to working with its employees to support work-life integration in order to retain valuable employees.
It is where we can - no matter what age - learn to remain relevant. Because we are clear on our abilities, track record, what we need to be our best and how it will look.
The HOW
I made a choice to do this 30 years ago...And it has served me very well. But don't be fooled... I had to learn important habits and skills that didn't come naturally.
"I had to develop a different mindset and approach to life and work"
I had to reset my thinking, grapple with my ego, develop a mindset and create a framework that made sense for me - and I continue to employ those tools again and again - as life and work have changed. I had to develop a different mindset and approach to life and work.
Here are a few tips to begin to create the mindset and develop new habits:
- As with myself throughout my career/life journey, and when I work with individuals and groups - whether personal or in business - the first step is to start with individual unique core values, strengths, and priorities. This is the anchor to everything else - and it starts at the core/center of us or our business. Truly get to know yourself, what is important, your priorities.
- Checking in and reacquainting with this core is key to how we navigate decisions in our work. It helps us to operate from a single identity.
- In business or career - with our core values awareness, we can align to the business's core values and determine how we can best serve the business and our lives.
This is a start worth exploring. If we embrace these tools we can make better choices for our lives moving forward.
With any changes and new solutions, there will need to be evaluation and space for evolution. It requires assessing and adjusting to bring the best results.
This mindset of awareness of our core values and the business core values provides a clearer understanding of how we can integrate them and live towards the goals we are setting for ourselves.
Early on, I had to set up some very important habits/systems and continue to assess, adjust and create my path. I share those with my groups and in NEXT Career & Life media, it is a process I had to grow into.
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What will be your NEXT? The podcast NEXT with Elizabeth Ribons spotlights stories of those developing their integrated life-work, navigating and leveraging change and empowering stories. Listen now to: THRIVE Integrative Health with Dr. Jacquelyn Paykel
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