BALANCING HOME AND CAREER
New supervisors have two important reasons for learning more about how to balance home and career. One is to improve immediately their own “balancing act” so that they can survive as supervisors; the other is so that they will be in a position to teach and counsel their employees to do the same later on. With more single parents in the workplace, the need for such training has increased dramatically. Here are four tips to assist you in getting started:
Apply the same management techniques you learn in this book to do a better job of leading your family. Remember that home can be a good, safe place to practice newly acquired techniques of leadership.
Demonstrate to your employees and superiors that you know how to balance home and career by not jeopardizing one for the other. Stresses at work can cause stress at home, and vice versa. It can be difficult sometimes to keep one from spilling over into the other.
Use your weekends to catch up on home responsibilities and enjoy a few leisure activities so that you arrive in the office on Monday morning fresh and organized.
Arrive ahead of your staff so that you have some quiet time to plan your daily activities.
When you first become a supervisor, be careful not to create more problems than you solve. Move in with confidence and enthusiasm, but keep your eyes open and don't destroy previous relationships instead of building new ones. Create a climate of excitement, but don't sacrifice your long-range goals for immediate gains. Remember that it is easier to win popularity than to achieve respect. The management ladder has many rungs; if you don't make a smooth transition to the first one, you may never climb the others.