March 12th, 2012
The last six weeks have been a train wreck for me.
That is maybe a little dramatic. Nothing bad has happened during this time, actually some pretty good things have happened. But it has been an absolute black hole productivity wise. I first got sick with some nasty sinus business, and while it only really knocked me out for a day or two, it lingered for about three weeks. Not firing on all cylinders. Not terribly productive. My wife was also sick for a day or two.
Then I had a serious road week, in the airport six out of seven days. Great gigs, but falling further behind on e-mails, paperwork, writing, etc. When I got back to the office, desperately needing a seriously productive week, my wife was called to jury duty. And two of our kids got sick. Highly unproductive week for me (professionally at least!). By the end of the week I was sick again and about ready to give up on the idea of ever actually getting anything done.
Almost no blog posts, missed deadlines, rescheduled meetings and phone calls, and my email inbox is a crime scene. Some of you are probably ticked off at me right now because I have not responded to you yet. Sorry. I am working on it, I think I can be caught up in the next few days if I put in some productive days.
But this post is not my lame apology note. This avalanche of distractions and disruptions and stuff has just caused me to think again about the concept of “work life balance.” Or fluidity. Or flexibility. Or whatever you want to call it.
I am just going to call it self determination, which is what it boils down to for me. My boss (me) trusts that I am going to do my best to get everything done that I need to get done. This has been a unique stretch of time and I have not hit all of my deadlines, but I will get everything done.
It has been frustrating and exhausting and challenging, but I wonder if the experience would have been even worse had I been an employee in your organization? How hard is it to be away from the office there? Not just for one day, but for several days over several weeks for several different reasons? Would I have been in hot water…would I have had to ask and justify repeatedly, maybe beg? In some workplaces no, but in many yes.
Are conversations and practices around this idea of work life balance simply due to lack of trust?
How much of the practice of management is simply due to lack of trust?
Intriguing questions for sure. But I have work to do.
Be good to each other.