Bringing Your Full Self to Work

 "Work-life balance" is an almost mythical ideal that I try really hard to practice in my own life as well as set the conditions for it to happen in our office.  A big part, especially in a professional services firm, is to equally uphold that sometimes the job means long hours and tight deadlines, and that yet that people investing in things outside the office - kids, elderly parents, a hobby, a side gig - is celebrated and not looked down upon.  

Part of the selfish logic of the latter is you have to give people space outside of work to recharge and take care of things that matter to them or else they won't be able to give their fullest on the job.  And part of the logic is that these non-work pursuits actually contribute to their work self, in that they give people different perspectives and experiences they can bring to the team and to their clients.

 

 

Another part of work-life balance that I want to talk about today is the notion of bringing your full self to work.  This summer, having just become president and in light of both a scary pandemic, economic uncertainties, and racial unrest, I met with each staff person one on one.  I had some business to cover with each person but the bulk of our time was taken up with two questions.

First, how are you taking care of yourself?  While I expect everyone to be an adult and have agency over their own life, I don't assume that folks know how to actually do that, or that they are successful in doing so in these crazy times.  (As for me, I'm pretty good at the former and often terrible at the latter.)  So asking this question lets folks know it matters to me that they are taking care of themselves, and pushes them to articulate what that means and how they're doing at it.  An important consideration at a time when people are feeling isolated, scared, worn down, and despondent.

Second is to say directly to them that in light of everything that is going on in the world around race and politics and division and hate, I want to make sure that everyone feels our work place is a place where they can be their full selves, and bring all of what is important to their identity and value system rather than feel they have to check some or all of that at the door in order to fit in or do the work.  Which of course is not to say that everyone feels or believes the same thing.  On the contrary, that where we are different, we will know that those differences are not only tolerated but embraced as part of leaning into the power of diversity in building strong teams.  Especially given all the racial trauma and heated rhetoric that swirls around us, it can be freeing for folks to hear they don't have to downplay who they really are but that their full selves are what we seek when building our team and doing our work.

I understand that there are some places where, because of size or restrictions, you have to be very careful about what you say or think or wear or do.  I'm lucky we're a small business with an expansive palette of work in a large urban setting.  But all that does is create the possibility that we can have the sort of work culture in which people can be their full selves in the office.  It's on me to make that possibility reality, in our policies, in what I convey to our team, and in how I behave with my own time and words and actions.  And I dig that I have that opportunity to make this real.