Today IMPACT and Capital Group hosted their first virtual event in collaboration with Dr Linda Robson.
Breaking the Myth of Balance
As professional women, we know all too well the implicit and explicit expectations of creating balance in our lives, it may sometimes feel as though there is a goal to be reached in our productivity and diary management. The trade-offs in attention and prioritising result in guilt, decreased productivity, and even shame. In this session, Dr Linda Robson shared why the concept of balance is so out of balance and inherently sets us up to fail. She offered a more realistic reframe, drawing from neuroscience, psychology, and organisational behaviour.
The idea of balance gears our brains up for competition of resources between opposing forces in our life. This is a win / lose mindset with us caught in the middle of the most meaningful and important areas of our lives, so it’s really a lose / lose. Consider instead, harmony, which directs our brains and attention in a far more resourceful way. Harmony is based on the dynamic nature of our lives, a flow between the interconnected parts, which creates a resonant whole.
Harmony begins with 3 steps:
Shift your mindset
Identify the important areas of your life and how are they interconnected, supporting and enhancing one another.
Clarify your expectations to identify boundaries
What do you want and need at home, from your team, or other key relationships? Questions help, such as, “When we’ve been at our best, how were we working/being together, what was happening?” Think of a time when you were at your best at work, at home, and any other important area of life, and ask yourself, “What conditions or practices did I have in place that allowed me to be at my best?” Find out what the important people in your life need and want too. From these conversations, you’ll discover what boundaries (or requirements) need to be honoured to support more harmony. Use an experimental stance to practice, or “try on,” ways of engaging with one another to find what suits you best and honours the expectations.
Contract
Let the important people in your life know that you’re experimenting and creating harmony. Get their input to create agreements about how you will work or be together.
About Linda
Linda Robson holds a PhD in organizational behaviour, specialising in high-performing teams. In addition to a decade of experience in executive education in the US and Europe, Linda trains and supervises executive coaches and organizational development practitioners in the US and China. Linda is co-author of The Flourishing Enterprise: The New Spirit of Business and is President Elect of the Junior League of London, a volunteer charity focused on developing the potential of women.