For many working professionals, the ultimate goal of their career is to make it to the top of their organisation. Being the chief executive, or the founder of a successful company, is often where ambitious people see themselves reaching their full potential.
However, the work that goes into reaching the top job very rarely stops when you get there: and if anything, the added responsibility and stress can make it even more important to find ways to balance a person’s professional and personal life.
At last week’s Retail Fest conference in Australia, three retail leaders discussed their approaches towards work life balance: Julie Mathers, founder of sustainable lifestyle retailer Flora & Fauna; Travis Wright, chief executive of swimwear label Tigerlily; and David Janovic, founder and managing director of RJ Living.
Here are their tips for how they manage their days and maintain their professional and personal relationships while staying at the top of their game.
Maintaining perspective
When you sit at the head of a business, big or small, it can become easy to be inundated with the multitude of tasks at hand. And, with the health of the business often feeling like it lives and dies on your actions, it can feel like every decision you make is crucial.
This is why it’s important to always remember what the business is trying to accomplish.
“When I’m having a drama in the team or the business, I try to take a step back and ask, ‘how does this get in the way of our mission?’” said Janovic.
“It’s really useful to be able to take an external perspective on the issue at hand, and figure out if it’s actually that bad of an issue, or if it just feels big.”
Wright agreed, noting that after a particularly stressful event in a different job several years ago, she has learned to keep a wider perspective on the role she plays in the business, and has adopted a more relaxed attitude.
“If your mentality is ‘everything will be okay’ when things go wrong, your team will pick up on that and it will actually help to fix the problem,” Wright said.
“And it will help your team to move faster, because your team will know if they break something, it will be okay.”
Make time to switch off
In today’s world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to find time to ‘switch off’. However, finding ways to mandate time spent away from the job makes you a better person, and a better leader, according to Janovic.
“Early on in the business’ life, I used to work a lot at night,” Janovic said.
“But I think as the business has matured, I have a personal policy that I won’t work after 8pm. It’s been really hard to implement, but ultimately it was impacting my sleep. I’d spend all night thinking about whatever problems I was working on and then I’d go to work the next day and my energy would be zapped.
“I find now that I have way more energy, and I can be more efficient and effective on the job.”
Mathers said that since having had two children, her perspective on working outside of traditional work hours has changed substantially.
“I’ve got to have those boundaries, because I want to spend time with my children,” Mathers said.
“For my second child, I remember a lot of his first year, but the first year of my firstborn is a bit of a blur for me [because I was working so much].
“I think it’s good to have a bit of time when you’re not in the thick of it to reflect and figure out how you want to live, because when you’re busy, you don’t want to be making those decisions.”
Lean on other people, but also take them into account
For business leaders, having a strong support system can mean the difference between doing well and struggling under pressure. Leaning on mentors and co-workers, and loved ones, can be helpful in particularly stressful moments.
“I think it’s really important to have mentors, and to make sure you support those relationships in advance of adversity, and not just waiting for difficult moments to reach out,” Janovic said.
“I have a network that I tune into in those difficult moments, and as soon as I have those conversations, I feel better, because they’ve all had similar experiences. It helps you to realise that whatever is happening to you has happened before to other people.”
However, it’s also important to make sure you don’t just take from people: you need to make sure you give back as well, and make sure you are still available for those same people when they need you.
“For me, watching TV with a computer in front of me with my partner is quality time, but it’s not to a lot of people, and so you have to make sure you have those conversations with your loved ones and find out what they need from you,” Wright said.
The post Life at the top: How to balance work and life as a retail leader appeared first on Inside Retail.
