Invenio: Coaching and Mentoring August 2016 IIC&M | Page 6

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When you hear the word ‘balance’, what comes to mind? Strangely enough, just before writing this article I could not help notice how often the word is used in the media. Whether it’s balance of power, balancing the budget, or a balanced diet, the word just pops up everywhere. When I think of balance as a concept, I generally think about cats. More about that later.

The dictionary defines balance as:

• a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.

• something used to produce equilibrium; counterpoise

• mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behaviour, judgment, etc.

It is possible that you have come across these definitions in the form of requests, problems and or goals of clients. Work-life balance is often one of the usual suspects. In fact Wendy McAuliffe recently published an article in which she noted that ‘a recent study found that 64% of managers expect their employees to be reachable outside of the office on their personal time. One in five employees surveyed spent over 20 hours a week working outside of the office on their personal time’. If this trend is likely to continue or grow, then the issue of work-life balance is likely to go one of two ways. Either there will be a greater demand for coaching or mentoring to address this or it will just be accepted as ‘the norm’.

One of the profiles that I use in my coaching practice is called Personal Directions™ and is published by Management Research Group. One part of the profile is called ‘Appraise Your World’, which gives a snapshot of an individual’s personal world at a given point in time. The profile looks at the choices a person is making in relation to investment in some areas of their lives but not in others. Conducting a feedback session enables the individual to consider factors that may add to or distract from their current feelings of satisfaction and/or stability (balance).

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When addressing the issue of balance, in whatever guise it takes, it is important to consider a typical set of kitchen scales, not the digital ones, or a see-saw. If there is something on one side that is pulling the scale in that direction, something has to happen. Either something has to be taken off one side/end or something has to be added to the other. This is the same for individual’s seeking balance in their lives, be that personal or professional; and often these collide both consciously and covertly.

To balance the books we either have to reduce expenditure or create extra income. If we want to eat a balanced diet then somethings go in the shopping basket and others don’t. The point is that something has to give. Maybe this is not permanently or 24/7, after all, people need some reward or fun in their lives. It brings us back to the immortal question of ‘what does that look like to you?’ The harder question is more about what people are willing to give up or change.

I worked with a client many years ago who wanted a more balanced relationship with his partner. In this case, balanced meant that they talked more and did an equal amount of things with his friends as with hers. Although this may look straight forward, when there is more than one person involved, you have different perspectives. It soon appeared that his version of balance was completely different to hers. And so the discussion began, which by all accounts was liberating for both of them. Together, along with a number of coaching sessions, they found the balance that they both needed for their relationship to survive and grow. They both gave some things up, or recognised that they needed managing. They both added some things too.

David Monro-Jones AFC ASM

IIC&M Managing Director

[email protected]

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