How Sprout builds balance

I enjoy working at a fast pace. I need that pressure monster to drive me to produce my best work. I also genuinely love what I do so it’s easy to get swept up and have work become my sole focus. This has led to some huge wins and wonderful opportunities. The dark side of this, is that working at a relentless pace for too long can lead to serious burn out. Something I have absolutely experienced before, and odds are you probably have too. In a recent report by Unispace 70% of NZ professionals said they had experienced burnout compared to a global average of 59%. So how do you get out of the all or nothing loop? 

Start by understanding that the ideal work life balance is not a static split 

The level of need in life and work naturally fluctuates. So to achieve balance you sometimes need to dial up time at work to hit a deadline or complete a project. Other times you might need to do more at home, whether it’s attending your kids' school play or looking after yourself with a midweek massage. The balance part is created by being able to fluidly adjust your schedule to maximise efficiency and productivity in all areas. Embracing flexibility means the harsh boundaries of work and home disappear and suddenly there is just life. Happier, more satisfying and more successful life. 

Flexibility = Balance = Sustainable High Performance 

As a leader how do you build balance into your business and culture?

There are many ways to do this, I am lucky enough to work for a business that does this very well. There are a lot of things I love about working for Sprout (the positive impact we have on people’s lives, the connection and respect I feel from the people around me, the interesting work, the sweet office.. I could go on but you get the idea). Of all these things, what I appreciate the most is that every system, policy and communication reflects people. Not just how people think and how people work, but how people live. Balance is built into the systems of the business, and the message is communicated by the leaders again and again. Here are the things I have experienced working at Sprout that I have found the most impactful. 

1# Provide the flexibility to live. We all know that life happens, you have an appointment, you need to leave early to catch your kid’s soccer game, it's a beautiful sunny day for once and you must jump in the sea. Understand this and use it, provide the flexibility to live and it will come back to you threefold. Remove the need to ask permission and provide explanation, trust your people to manage their workload and time. From personal experience this approach has immense value and has absolutely resulted in higher productivity and happiness. 

2# Communicate again and again. It’s not enough to have wellbeing and balance listed on your benefits policy. You need to make it felt, remove doubt, encourage your people to manage their needs so they can do their best job. Make balance a part of the conversation, have regular check-ins, model the behaviour, and repeat the message again and again. 

3# Go where the energy is. Sometimes no matter how much you might want it, you just can’t get something done. You're not doing anyone favours staring at your computer re-reading the same sentence again and again. If it’s just not working for you, change tasks, change space, get outside, get moving. Develop strategies to shake up your system and reset. Open your mind to adjusting your day based on what’s working. Go where the energy is and encourage your people to do the same, across the span of the week you will accomplish more. 

4# Choose productivity over time. Embracing the concept of balance being dynamic rather than fixed means that schedule’s naturally become less rigid. Let go of the idea of 9-5. Connection time and working together is always going to be important but outside of this, encourage people to manage their workload fluidly across hours that they are the most productive. More often than not this will be 9-5 anyway, but some days this might look like a later start to get in a gym session or working later in the evening when inspiration strikes. The key is having a level of fluidity that allows for efficiency and eliminates presenteeism. 

Balance takes work, you need to be proactive to create space. Work gets busy. It's natural and sometimes you need to lean into that and sprint for all your worth. The key is to balance these periods with light weeks and down time. I am grateful to work for a business like Sprout that understands the benefits of balance and space. If you need help building balance into your business get in touch with Angela Waddell, Co-founder and Director of People Advisory & Design.