Work, life - it's a balancing act

BY VICKI JAYNE

When a pair of American grandparents talking about family values can not only pull a packed audience of local businesspeople but move some to tears, something is going on.

The family name helps. John Covey, from Utah, is the brother of the more famous Stephen - he of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People fame - a co-founder of the Covey Leadership Centre, director of the international Franklin Covey Company and a highly regarded trainer and presenter. Both brothers are Mormons.

But a bucketload of business cred does not entirely explain the emotional resonance.

Could be the topic. Work/life balance is becoming a big issue for those who teeter on the edge of coping as they struggle to meet employment demands and family needs. How to be successful in both?

A sense that some core values are being lost in the process is perhaps the raw nerve that John Covey with wife and co-presenter Jane touched when they spoke to a Chamber of Commerce breakfast seminar in Auckland last week.

They say that what is happening is a shift that companies cannot afford to neglect.

"The new reality is that companies will not remain competitive if they don't recognise their employees have a whole life, not just a business life," says John Covey.

"The best companies understand that their employees are more important to them than their shareholders - that they do better when they treat their employees as being more important than shareholders."

He's not talking corporate welfarism here, but a culture that values people's broader needs. For too long, the demands of business have shoved aside other parts of people's lives and in so doing have created the makings of a social disaster.

"We live in a 'family-toxic' culture," he says. "It's a matter of reassessing core values - family relationships are what count, that's the feedback we've had from hundreds of business audiences.

"So many successful business- people have regrets about time not spent with family - because they can't ever get it back."

From CEOs to factory-floor workers, people are in pain because their work and family needs are kept separate and in conflict, says Jane Covey. "What we're saying is that people have to take charge of that - to prioritise their values so they can enjoy a rich family life as well as work."

One Harvard writer characterises this as the "end of the zero-sum game", says John Covey.

"It used to be that if work wins, you lose out on life, or if life wins, you lose out on work. What we're saying is that these things are complementary - and that's where the workplace is heading."

A new breed of managers is trying a different tack - one in which they and their employees collaborate to achieve work and life objectives that benefit everyone, he says.

It's a process that involves both parties being clear about their respective business and personal priorities. Employers need to recognise and support employees as "whole people" and explore new work options that meet both employee and organisational goals.

The Coveys point to a growing body of research and anecdotal evidence that supports a business case for work/life balance - lower staff turnover, higher productivity, a happier workplace.

Some of that evidence is in a booklet, Navigating a Successful Course, which the Coveys are handing out to business audiences in Australia and New Zealand during their hectic three-week tour.

This is the cut-price Covey option. John and brother Stephen can command big money for business presentations - but this tour is sponsored by their Church of the Latter Day Saints (with Air New Zealand) and it is from the heart.

After 16 solid days on the trot, with two interviews plus one presentation ticked off the day's schedule and two more in different cities to go, the Coveys are on something of a personal crusade.

"What is driving me, my deepest passion, is the neglect and abuse of children," says John Covey.

Themselves parents of 10 and grandparents of 30, the Coveys reckon today's kids are being shuffled aside by parents too busy to provide the emotional energy and moral leadership they need.

While pushing for family-friendly business, the Coveys are also urging people to practise "life leadership" - to take charge of setting their own work-life values.

"The only way to change is for individuals to start inside themselves," says John Covey.

"If business can help, that's great, but don't rely on it."

They offer some simple recipes that work - like planning for one regular weekly hour dedicated to family fun, making time for one-on-one interactions, or creating a family mission statement. Theirs took 18 months to fashion and consists of just three words - "no empty chairs".

"That won't mean much to you but it does to us. The point is that the comprehensive statement [on family values] is built into the process of working out what we as a family stood for, what we wanted to be like.

"In our family, we say 'let's be loyal to the absent and let's help everyone try to realise their best selves'."

The Covey presentations are peppered with such personal anecdotes and practised baton-swapping between a couple who now always travel and present as a team.

It is full of warm fuzzies that might all be a bit twee - but the sheer sincerity of their message gets to you.

"No other success compensates for failure in the home. We have to get the balance right."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz