When you think about work-life effectiveness, do you think of it as a destination, or as a continuous journey of juggling priorities? Does it mean working long hours during the week so that you have all weekend off for adventures? Or do you work a 9-5 day and then RAS in to finish e-mail and other commitments after the kids have gone to bed?

No matter how you define it, you can bet that each of your direct reports has a different interpretation based on his or her own priorities. To help manage direct report workloads:

  • Communicate expectations.  The key to establishing effective work-life balance within your team is clear communication about business expectations and needs. The more clear that your team is about business commitments and priorities, the more able each member is to integrate these with individual commitments and priorities.
  • Keep a realistic workload.  You can ensure that your team has a challenging but realistic workload. This involves scheduling time accurately, managing resources wisely, prioritizing tasks, and at times saying "no" to projects that would overload the team. Work with your manager to evaluate the team's priorities to make sure that you are focused on work that is vital to the organization.
  • Remove interruptions.  Interruptions prolong the workday and are symptomatic of a crisis-centered, reactive approach to work. The simple process of setting aside specific periods in the week without interruptions can result in better performance and team morale with less stress and pressure on employees.

Encourage Time Efficiency

In your next meeting, look around. What are people doing? Does this picture give you more or less confidence that your business goals will be met? We spend an average of 23 hours a week in meetings, according to the Wharton Center for Applied Research. And most employees consider only 58 percent of that time valuable.

That's 42 percent wasted time and effort that you could have used to get you closer to your business goals. How you prepare for, conduct, and follow-up meetings directly impacts your business success. Time is one of our most valuable resources when managed effectively and efficiently.