Work Life Balance: Where's the Balance?

“A true balance between work and life comes with knowing that your life activities are integrated, not separated.” - Michael Thomas Sunnarborg
 

Organisations today have almost overpowered individuals to such an extent, that people are having to live their life between work. A typical day for an individual, lucky enough to be employed, would consist of 8 hours work, 2 hours commute and 6-8 hours sleep, leaving about 4-6 hours of life.

So where's the balance?

Working 8 hours per day to hardly fund 4 hours of life, and then you say 8 hour days no longer exist, thanks to information technology. While you may argue, organisations now have a menu style work-life balance initiatives from annual leave to spa packages, in my opinion, that is not work-life balance.

Corporate Work-Life Balance

Oh I am not feeling well today, is it okay to skip work today or go to the office for half day without having to go through sickness absence administration?
Darn it, I forgot it was my niece's birthday this friday, can I just finish work early, without having to call three line managers to authorise it?

Just got an offer of tickets for United's game next tuesday, but damn can I have a day off without having to give at least 3 week notice to the employer?!!

That is not a solution. It's merely a corporate dictatorship, instructing you the first time you can have a lazy day at home won't be until next three weeks given that you submit holiday request form today. How about I ask the employer where the organisation will be in next three weeks? It won't have a clue!

Understand and Empower

Organisations, and specially managers, must understand the essence of work-life balance and flexibility in the workplace. Employees must be encouraged to manage their lives the way they feel will give out the best performance. Even the drivers in Formula 1 racing need to replace there tyres 3-4 times to get the best out of them, all before they wear off!

Work life balance, in my opinion, is the power which should be granted to employees to control their work as well as their personal life. It's not work-life balance if the employer dictates when and for how long you can go on a camping holiday!

We have come a long way from rigid working patterns and fixed terms of employment, but now steps must be taken in the right direction to integrate the information technology with work, preferably, for the good of the people.

Lively People. Lively Organisation.


This is Nauman Wasif

Optimise

"Relevance is a search engine's holy grail. People want results that are closely connected to their queries" - Marc Ostrofsky  

Like every organisation's strategy of employing people who align with the goals of the organisation, or can become part of the corporate culture, an individual must also think and communicate strategically to create excellent long lasting connections. Optimization (or more specifically, search engine optimization) is the newest trick in the market. Everyone wants to be number 1 on Google  searches, businesses are investing millions to buy keywords and searches where they can just be visible to customers looking to solve a problem.  

While some want to buy their way in, others are looking for what people are searching, so they can optimize their content in a way that they can be the first one on the search results. In my opinion, that is in no way different then forcing to make a connection with someone, who may actually buy your services and create value for you. 

Optimize what you say

On the other hand, if you've optimized content, or authentic relevant connections, people will come straight to you with their problems without looking anywhere. That is, what having a quality connection ensures! 

Individuals, like businesses, must optimize what they communicate with people. How? By being relevant, honest and understanding what the other person is really interested in whilst demonstrating what you can do for them and constructing valuable links with people who will introduce you to other valuable connections seeking what you've got to offer. 

Despite the documented benefits of having social media connections and the widespread use of them (especially by students and teenagers), nobody is moving forward in their life. It's not getting them job offers, contracts, projects, sponsorship, advertising revenue etc, just because their in no quality in their content (or even connections). On the other hand, some bright (others may say lucky) students do however succeed in taking their career aspirations forward using their social capital and by creating strong links with people who can engage with then to create value.

Conclusively, whatever you do, focus, commit and do the best you can, because quality is paramount to value generation, and if you happen to be someone with good personality traits and optimum communication skills, guess what, you've just hit a jackpot!


This is +Nauman Wasif....tell me what you think!

Connect

"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se" - Charles Eames 

There's no doubt the sustainability of wealth of an individual or a business can be judged with the number of quality connections it possesses. No matter whatever you've achieved sitting inside a laboratory or writing a thesis, it accounts for nothing without connections. To get your product, brand, personality and even ideas, you need to have links and networks within which you can operate and further your interests.

Connections are the most important thing nowadays due to a widespread understanding of the unpredictable and unreliable nature of business environment, however what people can rely on is the connections they create with human beings along the way, because believe it or not, they're the ones running your business, they are the ones running ANY business. People have transactions with people to fulfill a need, people deal with people to make things happen and that is what basically business is! People have to connect with people to carry out an activity to enhance value and create a profit. That's how every big business started off, may it be KFC , +PepsiCo  or Facebook.

Optimize your connections

However, what you must not forget is the quality of connections you make, because having weak links would only see you getting left out or achieving a very little return on your social capital. Quality in connections can include a number of things within your sphere of work, social circle or personal lifestyle, but the most common things among all of them would be RELEVANCE. 

See next blog 'Optimise' to find out how you can make your connections relevant and effective.

Connect with me on twitter @naumanwh 


This is +Nauman Wasif - Tell me what you think! 

University of Today

"There is no greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity on self-examination" - Mencius 

This is actually a continuation of my previous blog, however I feel what I am going to talk about is already practiced in at a very micro level in some universities therefore University of Today seems a more appropriate title.

Don't just type it, Publish it!

What's the problem now?

This is an attack on academia's love for assignments and examinations at every level of student life. While I would agree that this has been established as one of the best ways to test a pupil's commitment and understanding of theoretical concepts bulldozed all over the year, in a bigger picture, they account for nothing except sitting in a faculty's drawer or hard drive.

The amount of research and hard work students have to put into each and every piece of assessment, must contribute to something of substance, which should be a long lasting legacy for the world to witness. How can ONE person be given responsibility to assess a work of an individual who has put hours and days into a written project or examination, only to give it a number and lose it forever in someone's cabinet!

The grade given is a mere disillusion of what an individual is capable of, and it could easily be proven by the number of top graduates without jobs as opposed to failures or borderline individuals taking better care of their lives by starting huge things. Having said that, the lecturers and members of administrative staff dread the deadlines as much as students, as it leads to lumps of checking, feedback, administration and paperwork, something which is not very welcome in anybody's busy schedule in these times!

The solution to this system? Let the World decide!

I believe, looking at the way this world is moving forward, things must be transparent and creation should be encouraged. Students should be encouraged to create and produce, and assessments must be published online and assessed by the general public.

The advantages to this approach will be greater transparency, increased motivation to produce higher quality, portfolio creation for future graduates, evidence of capabilities and much honest feedback by the general public. Blogs, social interactions and quality of published work can be assessed much better by the people who need that information most, instead of people who possess it. It will give students a better analysis of what they are worth and how rewarding it is to focus, commit and produce quality in whatever you do, whilst providing them with skills and motivation to be the best!



This is +Nauman Wasif  - What do you think?

University of Tomorrow

Unfortunately, I couldn't name this article as University of Today!

The education system of UK is, without doubt, one of the World's best. I have had the time of my life being part of this system since last 4 years and while I am reaching its end, i'm looking back and cherishing every experience I have enjoyed in University of Chester.

So, what's the problem?

The problem is validity, relevance and motivation!
What's the use of having a qualification which is not going to help you in real world organisations?!
Won't motivate you to think creatively within current context of Global environment and competition?!
Why, once you start a graduate job, you look back and think they never told us that in university?!

Right, how do we sort this out then?

Looking back at my experiences, what could have helped me understand and relate business theory with practical life better would've been if I had my own business which I can relate to! A real proper business! So, universities of tomorrow must give students this opportunity (mandatory) to have their own business by forming students into groups with a start up cash and let them decide their own business idea!

The marks and grading system should be replaced with how the academic underpinning is being reflected in their business for each module/subject area, with full overview of each business suggesting the overall classification of their degree in terms of profits, working capital, customer base, feedback, growth etc. Obviously, some businesses/groups would fail in the beginning, but then again, in every class, some students do fail! Business is a race for survival, the failing businesses can be bailed out by a reserve, merged with a successful one, partly owned or completely taken over by competitors having the failures as mere employees! If this starts happening since day 1, I can guarantee, by the time the students graduate, we may see a future Yahoo, Google or Facebook in the making.

Not only will this type of a project help students make money, but it will motivate them to be more committed in what they learn, work effectively in a team, survive as a business in these economical times and occupy that killer instinct leading to innovation, developments and revolutionary academic developments!

More to come.

This is +Nauman Wasif , tell me what you think!