Covey on Work Life Balance

I've taken quite a long hiatus from the blog over the past few months while I have been pleasantly engaged doing some fantastic work with teams, professionals and organizations around leadership and balance issues.

Work Life Quality and balance issues continue to be a hot topic against the context of doing more with less, and economic volatility across the globe.

I came across an interesting blog post by Stephen R. Covey this morning which I wanted to connect you to. How to strike a work and life balance is an interesting read -- particularly if you reflect on his following comment:

"....driven by an addiction to the urgent and continually respond to the the four P’s—those things that are Pressing, Proximate, Pleasant and Popular—leaving very little time to do those things that are truly important." - Stephen R. Covey

How are you creating time today to address those things that are truly important for you?

Have a wonderful day!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Potentials Realized
Leverage Your Time in 2009 Virtual Retreat - starts December
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

Work Life Balance: Pay Close Attention

“No matter how you view balance, it is something that calls for continuous attention. Because of the ever-changing demands of life, it is unlikely that you can put your life into balance for once and all. As new circumstances arise, you will be called to make new choices about what is important to you and to adjust how to invest your time . . . Stay flexible, find new solutions, and give yourself enough time to pay attention to the balance in your life.”
- from Running on Plenty at Work, by Kruth and Schmidt

What attention have you paid lately to the balance in your life?

Join me next month for the Your Balanced Life! Virtual Retreat program on Wednesday May 14 and 21 from 7-10pm EST/4-7 pm PT. This program is held by phone and is a mix of short group calls and indivdual coaching exercises which are scheduled throughout the two evenings. I've been celebrating my 4th business anniversary this month, and registration for this program is 40% off until this Wednesday April 30th at 11:59 pm(ET). Regular price is $125 US -- until Wednesday evening registration is only $71 US. I hope that you will consider joining me. Click here for more information or to register.

Have a balanced week,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP

Potentials Realized

Group Coaching Essentials

The year that was and the year ahead (Audio)

I hope that you have read my post on Balance Tips for the Holidays 2007. In it, I include several questions to help you reflect on 2007 and start undertaking some visioning work for the year ahead.

If you haven't done so, I'd encourage you to build in at least half an hour to take stock of what 2007 has had to offer and what you want 2008 to look like. Grab a pen, some paper or your computer!

Here's a 15 minute audio post to support you in your reflection and visioning:



(If you subscribe I hope that you will visit this post online so you can download the recording)

Pull up a chair, put on a fire, or head to the beach to undertake this exercise on reflection and visioning for the new year.

Enjoy!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Group Coaching Essentials
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer{at}potentialsrealized.com

Balance Tips for the Holidays - 2007

Last year my post on balance tips for the Holidays was extremely popular and I have had a number of requests to provide some Balance Tips for the Holiday Season 2007.

If you haven't read last year's Balance Tips for the Holidays, you can read it here. And here is my 2007 Balance Tips for the Holidays:

Balance Tips for the Holidays 2007
Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized - Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved.

The holidays can be a whur of activity and a time for stress rather than a relaxed time connecting with those things that matter most to you. What kind of holiday season do you want to create for yourself this year?

Here are a few tips to consider when looking at creating better balance during the holiday season.

1. Spend time reflecting on what 2007 was all about.
Build time into your schedule to tuck yourself away to take stock on the year that was. To support you in your reflection process you may want to consider the following questions:

• What am I grateful for? In my relationships? In my career or business? In my family life?
• What lessons have the events of 2007 taught me?
• What do I need to celebrate achieving this year?
• What have been the major areas of “stretch” for me this year?
• I am most proud of accomplishing….this year

2. Spend time creating a vision for what you want to create in 2008.
What do you want to create in 2008. Here are some vision questions to get you started:

• What do I want to create in 2008? (In my work, family, relationships?)
• What are my three main goals for the year – personally, in relationships, in my career or business?
• What support team do I need around me to help me achieve my goals?
• What is the most breathtaking action I could take in 2008? What would it give me?
• The theme for my year in 2008 is…..

3. Connect with what is important to you - your priorities
It can be very easy to lose sight of of you priorities during the holidays and get wrapped up in the holiday spirit. Is your priority to spend more (quality) time with your family? Live a healthy lifestyle? Practice financial prudence? How are your priorities being met this holiday season.

Take a moment and write down what your priorities are right now, and what you want your priorities to be for the coming year. Is there a gap? What do you need to let go of to close that gap?

4. Revisit your values: Values can act as an internal compass for us, enabling us to make better decisions while keeping aligned with what is most important to us.

5. Build in time for your "self" - Our needs can quickly get lost during the holiday, especially if you wear many different hats - business owner, executive, parent, spouse, partner, sibling, child.

What do you need in order to fuel yourself during the holidays? Remember: "What doesn't get scheduled, doesn't get done!"

What can you do today to have time for yourself?

and finally

6. Celebrate - The holidays are a wonderful time to celebrate all that has happened during the past year. It's a time for community and reconnecting with childhood wonder. Find time this holiday season to celebrate in a way that is meaningful and fulfilling to you.

Some questions to consider are:
What have I accomplished this year?
What major milestones have I reached?

Cheers to a "balanced" holiday season!

Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Group Coaching Essentials
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

Jennifer is a Professional Certified Coach who works with professionals, teams and organizations on balance, career, teamwork and business success issues. She has worked with clients in over 30 countries to help them take their work and relationships from good to great. She offers indvidual and group coaching programs, workshops and retreats (virtual and in-person). To find out more about the work Jennifer undertakes and programs she offers, please visit her at www.groupcoachingessentials.com.

If you would like to reprint this article please feel free to do so including our contact details and bio. We would love to hear where you have used it, so please feel free to send us a link or copy by email to info@potentialsrealized.com.

Work Life Balance Tip - Investing in Relationships

Relationships infuse every aspect of our lives -- our work, our families, our relationship with money. How much focus have you given your relationships lately?

The focus on effective relationship building is becoming a priority in many companies these days as it has an impact on everything from customer service, to team productivity to employee satisfaction.

Here's an exercise to undertake with an important relationship in your life. It may be an exercise you want to journal on. Ask yourself:
1. Why is this relationship so important for me?
2. What do I love about this relationship?
3. What does the relationship call me to be? To do?
4. What is possible for this relationship?
5. What does it mean to be conscious and intentional in this relationship?

Over the past year, an increasing part of my work as a coach has shifted to supporting couples and business partnerships in creating consicous and intentional relationships. Having focused on supporting the strengthening of team relationships for many years now (19 to be exact!) it's quite exciting to have the opportunity to work with even more intimate relationships.

If you are commited to investing more in your relationships, I hope that you will mark your calendars for a one hour free call I will be holding with my colleagues on December 4th from 8-9pm (EST) on creating more intentional and conscious relationships. To reserve your spot email relationships{at} potentialsrealized{dot}com.

If you are in the Toronto area and are looking for a fun and rich day to start 2008 with your spouse, business partner or sibling, I hope that you will consider joining us for the Make It Great for 2008 Retreat (Saturday January 12/08 from 9-5 pm). The program will be held in downtown Toronto.

What's possible for you in your relationships in 2008?

Have a balanced week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Make It Great for 2008 Retreat

Work Life Balance Tips for Entrepreneurs

Wendy Piersall over at Entrepreneur.com had a great post last month entitled 20 Work-Life Balance Tips for the Overworked Entrepreneur. It's great to see Wendy's role over at Entpreneur.com -- I knew her back from the EMoms at home BlogJolt Days.


Wendy's got some fantastic tips which are not just for entrepreneurs, including some of my favorite work-life balance tips which you've heard me talk about before, including:

- Say No!

- Schedule in downtime

- Ask for help


I think as women, whether we run a business, work as a full time professional, or raise a family, we can all benefit from Wendy's work-life balance tips.

My monthly balance call next month will dovetail with the relationship series of calls I am doing with fellow retreat leaders and relationship coaches, Sharon Miller and Jennifer Morgan. I hope that you will consider joining us on November 1st from 8-9pm (EST) by phone for Standing Your Relationships on their Head. It's going to be a juicy, interactive group coaching hour where you can explore one of your most important relationships, define what's unique about it and walk away with some action steps to take it from great to extraordinary. To reserve your spot for this one hour call email us at relationships@potentialsrealized.com. We'll be running this call again on December 4th from 8-9pm (EST) if you can't make it next Thursday.


Have a balanced week!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPCC
Potentials Realized
Group Coaching Essentials
Email: jennifer@potentialsrealized.com
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

Work Life Balance Tip - Fall Cleaning

I've just wrapped up the Get Organized Virtual Retreat a few days ago with professional organizer Hellen Buttigieg. We had a wonderful group of individuals who were dedicated to creating more order and organization in their lives this fall. This experience, coupled, with the lead up to the Your Balanced Life! Virtual Retreat starting next Monday October 15th (7-10 pm EST), has led me to thinking a lot about Fall Cleaning, and how we can usher in some wonderful new things, when we let go of the old.

Here are a few things to think about as you take on your own fall cleaning:

In general,
1. What do you need to let go of or clear out before the end of the year?
2. What do you want to create more of in your life?
3. What projects have been hanging on, and on and on. Commit to a set completion date, or take it right off your list.

At home:
1. What's one area of your home environment that needs attention?
2. What action steps can you take to transform this area?
3. Block off time (even 15 minutes on a regular basis) to focus on cleaning or clearing this area.

In finances:
1. What needs cleaning up or clearing out, with respect to your finances?
2. What is one action step you will take to clean this up?
3. By when will you complete it? To whom will you be accountable to?

In work:
Review your business goals for the year:
1. What do you need to celebrate?
2. What goals still need attention?
3. What will be your focus this month? In November? In December?

Taking time to take stock of your goals and where you are, can pay off multifold. As we are moving into these last few months of the year, what do you need to clear out before starting afresh in 2008?

As is now tradition, I will be holding the Clean Sweep for the New Year Retreat program (by phone) in early December. This one day program is designed for you to take stock on 2007, and start planning and repositioning for 2008. I will be holding an information call on the program in the next while, so keep posted.

If you want to get a head start right now, space still remains for the Your Balanced Life! Virtual Retreat which starts next Monday (Monday October 15 and 22nd, 7-10pm EST each night, plus a group follow up call). Click here for more info or to register.

I'd love to hear how your fall cleaning is going -- please feel free to comment below.

With best wishes,
Jennifer
Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Your Balanced Life! Group Coaching Program

Podcast: Powerful Time Management Tips

Thanks to all of you who joined me for this month's Balance call held Monday evening on Powerful Time Management Tips. As we are moving into the fall -- often a time for new beginnings -- it seemed like it was a very pertinent call.

If you missed our hour together, you can listen to the first 15 minutes of the call here:


I hope that you enjoy it! For those of you that are subscribers to the blog, I know that often the link does not show up in your email, so please feel free to hop on over to the blog to be able to listen.

I'll be continuing to host monthly balance calls this fall -- schedule, times and topics to be posted soon.

I hope that you enjoy listening to the powerful time mangement tips call -- I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, so please feel free to comment using the link below.

You may also want to check out my previous blog posts related to this topic of time management:

Work Life Balance Tip - Where do you spend your time?
Where do you spend your time, Part 2
Work Life Balance Tip - Apply the 80/20 Rule

Have a balanced week and enjoy this last long weekend of summer!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
90 Day Your Balanced Life! Program
Email: jennifer{at}potentialsrealized{dot}com
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

Balance Tip: Take Time to Dream

This week’s balance tip is all about taking the time to dream. When was the last time to were able to dream about what you want to create in your life or work?

For the last day, I have had the luxury of working alone from my cabin solo. It’s been quite some time since I’ve had the luxury of two days alone and it really has stirred up my creative juices.

What’s possible for you? What do you dream for?

A great exercise, is to create a vision board. You can now do this online at Lifemastering.com. They have a free trial which you can check out.

If you haven’t listened to this month’s podcast – Creating a Powerful Vision – I would invite you to listen to this twelve minute post. Your vision is all about your dreams.

What do you want to create?

Have a balanced week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized
Group Coaching Essentials
Email: jennifer{at}potentialsrealized.com

Work Life Balance Tip: Where Do You Spend Your Time?

I've been doing some coaching work this week with a great group of female business owners and this morning we were talking about time management. Time is a non-renewable resource yet one that we are so often willing to flex on.

Where do you spend your time? The assignment I've given my entrepreneurial divas recently is to track where they are spending their time for a week. It's been a pretty insightful exercise as I saw with another group last week.

What would you discover if you tracked your time? Here's the challenge:
Starting today, take note of where you are spending your time (by minutes) for the next week. Consider tracking along the following categories:
* Recreation
* Travel
* Commute
* Employment/Business
* Family
* Significant Other
* Housework/Yard Work
* Hobbies
* Me Time
* Leisure (Music/TV other)
* Sleep
* Other (feel free to include your own categories)

In total you have 168 hours available. Where is your time going?

I'll follow up with you in about a week here on the blog to ask you some other questions once you've finished your time charting.

Are you ready to take up the time audit challenge? I hope so!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CHRP, CPCC
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: info{at}potentialsrealized{dot}com

Don't forget that the next 90 Day Your Balanced Life program starts this coming Tuesday (July 17th from 7-8pm EST). For more information and to register click here. I hope that you will join me!

Work Life Balance Tip: Apply the 80/20 Rule

Have you heard of the Pareto Principle? This argues that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort.

Where are you spending your time? What 20% of your efforts are generating 80% of your results. Take a moment and write these down.

We can also apply the Pareto Principle to planning and time management. Did you know that 20 minutes of planning can save 120 minutes of work (unfocused effort)? Are you taking time at the end of the day, or start of the day to map out what needs to get accomplished and get done? Try it out for a week....carve out 10 - 20 minutes for daily planning each and every day. You may prefer to schedule this at the end of the day, or the start of the day.

I'd love to hear how it goes and what impact it makes in your work.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC, CHRP
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: info[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com

Podcast: Work-Life Balance for the Summer Months

A big thank you to all listeners and readers who joined me last night on this month's Work-Life Balance complimentary call. If you missed our monthly Monday evening call, you can listen to the podcast here:



Please mark down the dates for our upcoming free monthly Work-Life Balance calls. They will be held:
Monday July 23rd (8-9pm ET): Creating a Powerful Personal Vision
Monday August 27th (8-9pm ET): Powerful Time Management Tools for Balance

Bridgeline information can be obtained by emailing me at info{at}potentialsrealized[dot]com with Balance Call in the header. I will also post the bridgeline information a few days before the call on this blog.

I look forward to having you join me on future calls. Enjoy this month's podcast! Feel free to comment with your thoughts on the call below.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

Balance and Finances

This week's balance tip is all about balance and finances, an area that we often do not spend too much time talking about. However, it is an area that can have a huge impact on how we are viewing "balance" in our life. I am always amazed at how financial imbalance can trickle over to imbalance in other areas of our life.

When was the last time you sat down to really look at your financial situation? Do you know this month exactly what's coming in and what's going out? (This can be especially tricky for business owners). When bills have to be paid and for how much?

If you had to rank your satisfaction regarding this area of your life on a scale of 0-10 (with 10 being perfectly satisfied and 0 being "eeek!!!") where would you put yourself?

What are your strengths in the area of finances? What other areas need to be addressed?

What is one step you can take this month to put your financial house more in order?

There was a great article posted earlier this week by Christina Laun: 17 Important Financial Tips for Women, over at Ask the Advisor. Click on over and check it out!

Have a balanced week,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton

Potentials Realized

The 90 Day Your Balanced Life program starts by phone on July 17th (Tuesdays 7-8pm ET). Reserve your spot today!

Next free monthly balance call:

Monday June 26th (8:30-9:30 pm ET): Creating Balance for the Summer Months (Note the new time!)

To attend and get the bridgeline information, email me at info[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com with June 26th Balance in the subject line. Looking forward to having you on the call! Your only cost is the long-distance charges to connect with the bridgeline.

Work Life Balance Tip: Check it Off

Work Life Balance Tip : Check it Off!

I've blogged before regarding how taking a bit of time at the end or start of the day to do some planning work (5-10 minutes) can pay off exponentially. It can provide us with focus and frees up space in our brain to focus on other important issues, not just our daily list or shopping needs.

There are a wonderful number of time management tools and systems out there. Personally I still subscribe to Stephen Covey's Time Management Model, with his four quadrant system of Urgent/Not Urgent, Important/Not Important. To find out more about this model, take a look at "First Things First" which you can order online through Amazon at the link on the right.

By prioritizing the importance and urgency of the tasks in the day, I can quickly prioritize what really needs to get done, both big and small. Over the years I have found a system that works well for me, which is also linked to the energy and focus I have throughout the day. I am a morning person, so I try to get the urgent and important things done then when I have the energy and focus.

Make sure after you have completed an item that you check it off, and move on! For tasks that are larger, you may want to consider breaking them down into bite size pieces and schedule these individually. Often getting started is the hardest step, and taking a number of small steps forward can be more managable.

If you are interested in time management issues I hope that you will join me for my August monthly call on Time Management. The call will be held on Monday August 27th from 8-9 pm. To get added to the mailing list with the bridgeline information, please feel free to email me.

Have a balanced week,

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton

Potentials Realized

The next 90 Day Your Balanced Life Group Coaching Program starts July 17th

Toll Free 1-866-217-1960

Email: jennifer{at}potentialsrealized{dot}com

Work Life Balance Tip: Plant a Seed

Gardening has been very much on my mind over the weekend, as I spent a number of wonderful hours putting in seeds and new plants for the summer months. It was wonderful to be working outside in the sun for a few hours.

Today's work life balance tip is about planting seeds. Just as with gardening, creating what we want in our lives and works often requires a lot of pre-work. The soil needs to be prepared, and seeds need to be planted. They may take a few weeks to sprout and even longer to bear fruit. The same thing can be said regarding our personal and business goals.

What seeds do you want to plant for future harvest? What do you need to prepare in your inner garden? What weeds are still around? Are all the necessary ingredients there for successful growth? What steps can you take this week to prepare your garden and plant your seeds?

I hope that you find this metaphor useful. I'd welcome hearing what seeds you want to plant in your garden for summer harvest.

Don't forget -- Tuesday evening (May 29th) I'll be doing a one hour free call on Assessing the State of Balance in Your Life. The call will run from 8-9 pm ET. The bridgeline for the call is (218) 486-1300, access code 957103. Participants are responsible for their own long-distance charges. Looking forward to speaking with you tomorrow evening! Next month's free call will be held on June 25th from 8-9pm (ET).

Have a balanced week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

The next 90 Day Your Balanced Life program starts July 17th and runs to mid-October. Reserve your space today!

Work Life Balance for Moms

Work Life Balance for Moms


Mother's Day is just around the corner, and it is a fitting time to celebrate all of us who are mom's. If you are a mom, I hope that you will have a wonderful weekend!

I wanted to shine the spotlight on some excellent articles and research findings that have just come out regarding work-life balance for moms.

Workopolis has just released it's annual Mother's Day poll which had some interesting findings. Overall they state, "Too often, mothers are forced to choose between putting in the long hours to meet deadlines and watching their daughter's debut in the schoool play".

* 27% of working mothers surveyed feel that their number one challenge is time away from their family.
* One in ten respondents mentioned being taken seriously as a working mother is a challenge
*25% of reponsdents report that their employers don't offer any options to ease the transition beack to work for female employees after maternity leave.

A number of employers in Canada are offering several solutions for working moms:
* 48% of respondents mention that their employers provide flexible working hours
* Job Sharing (14%)
* Provision of portable technologies (Blackberry, laptops) - 13%
* Working from home - 9%
* On site daycare - 6%

Workopolis indicates that the following factors would make working life more managable from the perspective of working moms:
* Flexible working hours
* On-site daycare
* Ability to work from home on occasion

Tips to Make it Work include:
* Build a support structure (See my post on support structures for goals a few weeks ago)
* Leverage technology to work for you
* Work for a family-friendly workplace
* Don't be afraid to say "no" (See my post on boundaries in January)

Click here for more information about the Workopolis survey:
NewsWire

CareerBuilder.com in the US has released another survey and found the following results:
* 44% of the mothers surveyed would take a pay cut to spend more time with their children
*23% surveyed indiatd tht they had missed three or more significant events in their children's lives in the last year
* Half would quit their jobs if their spouse made enought money "for the family to live comfortably"
* Work follows moms home : 31% of American mothers reported that they take work home at least once a week, and 17% take work home at least three times per week.

For articles on the CareerBuilder.com study, visit the Wall Street Journal Online

For moms out there, I will be doing a one hour free call on Work-Life Balance Tips for Moms on Wednesday May 16th at 7pm (EST). If you'd like to join me please email me at info@potentialsrealized.com with Work Life Balance May 16th in the header . During this call I will be sharing some tips and tools for work life balance for moms. I hope that you can join me. Note: the bridgeline is located in the US - participants are responsible for their own long distance charges.

Have a balanced weekend,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
90 Day Your Balanced Life! program starts May 22nd -- click here for more information
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com

Work Life Balance Tip - Focus

This week's work life balance tip is on focus. By focus, I mean focus on the task at hand. I was reminded about this important tip last night as Hellen Buttigieg and I facilitated the first evening of our Get Organized! Virtual Retreat.

We live in a world today of multi-tasking, being bombarded by email, the phone, and many other distractions. How often do you truly focus on just what's at hand?

I'd like you to try a little exercise in the coming days. Take a task that you really want to accomplish (something that can be done in say a couple of hours or less), and for that time, just focus on the task at hand. Turn off the phone, unplug the Blackberry, and just focus on the task at hand. I'd be interested in hearing how you find the experience. Did it go quicker? Was it easier than you had expected?

For those of you who are business owners, you may want to visit this other post I wrote earlier this year at my BizToolkit blog - The Power of Focus.

Take time this weekend and next week to focus at the task at hand. What's it like?


With best wishes,
Jennifer


Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT
Potentials Realized
Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com

Work Life Balance Tip - Do something spontaneous

Work Life Balance Tip - Do something spontaneous
Copyright 2007 - Jennifer Britton

Prehaps it's the longer evenings we are having, signalling the end of winter, but lately I've been reflecting a lot on some of the routines I created for myself during the winter months. What ruts have you been in lately? What routines are you holding onto, no matter what, whether they are serving you or not?

This week's work life balance tip is on doing something spontaneous. I'm not advocating something necessarily extreme, but something small and spontaneous you can do to make a change to your routine.

One of my newer routines for spring is to make it to the Y on Saturday morning for a quick morning workout in the pool. I'm usually an early riser, conditionned from waking with the sun every morning for more than 10 years when I lived in the Caribbean. I love the feel of getting a head start on the day, and getting some exercise in at the start of my weekend gives me an extra burst, as well as permission to take it easier and unwind for the rest of the weekend.

I found an interesting chemistry definition for the word "spontaneous" the other day that I wanted to share with you in closing:

"Spontaneous processes do not require work to be done in order to occur. A reaction is said to be spontaneous if it is possible." ibchem.com/root_htm/defn/gloss.htm

What can you do today that is spontaneous? What's possible for you?

Have a balanced week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP
Potentials Realized
Your Balanced Life! 90 Day Group Coaching Program

What does career have to do with balance?

The Simmons School of Management in collaboration with HP has released a recent study involving 400 professional women (middle and senior-level professional women with over 20 years work experience). The study looked at to what extent women were leaving the workforce, why they make careeer decisions and how they manage work-life balance.

The study found more than 90% of the women surveyed had used some sort of flexible benefits work arrangements during their careers. These flexible benefits could involve telecommuting, flexible hours and limitations on travel or evening work.

Professor Mary Shapiro speaks about the study's results at NECN on this 12 minute video clip -- it's very interesting and is certainly in line with many of the current business topics I speak on regularly and advise corporations on as an HR Consultant. You can visit some of my additional comments on flexible workforce arrangements and current business trends at my sister blog: The Biz Toolkit.

The study points to the very interesting changes that are taking place in the workforce which are being driven by changing demographics, demographics and generational priorities. Looking at the Canadian context flex hours and a wider use of parental leave are much more commonplace than a few years ago, even though they are still not widely adopted.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue - does your company support flex arrangements? If you are a professional woman, how does career impact your balance?

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CHRP, CPCC, CPT
Potentials Realized
The 90 Day Your Balanced Life! Program starts on March 20th (Tuesdays 7-8 pm EST). I hope that you can join me -- space still remains!
Email: jennifer[at]potentialsrealized[dot]com

Work-Life Balance Tip - The Power of Teams

Work Life Balance Tip -

The Power of Teams

Collaboration and teamwork has been a theme for me this year. As a solopreneur I value the impact of strategic alliance and joint ventures, recognizing that these can expand my reach much greater than ever I could do alone.

This week's work life balance tips is on the power of teams. What does your "team" look like? Prehaps it is family members, co-workers, friends, children. How can your team support you in moving more fully into balance?

A significant amount of my coaching work is moving into team and relationship coaching, whether it is coaching an intact team, a business partnership or a romantic relationship. Ask yourself, "What is my team? How does my team support me?".

How can you leverage your team over the next month to enable you to achieve the goals you have set forth for yourself?

When collaborating/working with others, what is possible?

Teams bring into reality the premise of the sum being greater than its' parts. How has your team enabled you to create things greater than yourself?

I'd love to hear your comments. Please feel free to post a comment below.

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, CPCC, CHRP, CPT

Potentials Realized

Toll Free: 1-866-217-1960

I'm more than half-way through my goal of coaching over 50 partnerships and relationships during the first quarter of 2007. If you would like to take part in a free, no-obligation coaching session for you and your partner (whether they are a business or life partner), email me to set up a free 45 minute coaching session. Some partnerhsips that have taken me up on this offer have described the experience as "extraordinary", "you created the space for us to focus on possibilities", "outstanding". Partners who have taken advantage of this offer have included: corporate teams, new business partnerships, couples expecting a new baby, couples soon facing the early nest scenario, and new strategic alliances. As a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach I am continuing to deepen my coaching skills in the area of Organization and Relationship Systems coaching work, created by the Centre for Right Relatiosnship. I'd love to hear from you!