By Kerry Fallon Horgan

When I asked John McFarlane, then CEO of ANZ Bank, whether to create an enabling environment that supports work/life balance it is necessary for an organisational leader to model this balance, his response was illuminating.

"Get a full life and then have success at work!"

One of his key strategies being to follow a personal mission statement. This statement sets out the roles and pursuits on which he focuses all of his attention, avoiding "with good grace activities that are inconsistent, however appealing". He also takes very practical steps to ensure his time is managed well such as only having meetings in the mornings and if people are "high maintenance" he sends them away.

To create sustainable flexible workplaces managers must lead by example. Unfortunately all too often what we find in our organisations are "mega-managers". They are the people, who because of the long hours spent at work, have highly developed roles as managers at the expense of other life roles. When these "mega-managers" return home late at night, usually tired and stressed, the only role accessible to them is that of manager. And no partner, child or friend wants to be managed!

In this situation everyone looses. The manager, their family and the workplace, which needs leaders who model balanced, successful lives. The ‘mega-manager' lifestyle makes it difficult for them to understand the needs of people requiring flexibility, or the changing attitudes and different living arrangements of the majority of people in their organisations.

There are many organisations with good flexibility policies, but it is difficult to find those whose leaders actually use flexible practices themselves. This sends a double message to their staff, ‘Do as I say, not as I do'.

One outstanding leader, who is willing to ‘walk the talk' is CEO, Rob Davidson. You can see and hear his comments on workplace flexibility in the free video located at http://www.flexibility.com.au/

The central point being; if management is not putting policy into practice, people receive the message that if they want to get ahead they have to do what management does, put in the same long hours and make the same sacrifices.

This is compounded when their leaders, who are successfully balancing work and personal lives, are not willing or able to talk about it.

So get out there and walk the talk.

How long since you turned off your Blackberry for more than an hour or so?

Better work/life balance needs to start at the top.

Kerry Fallon Horgan is an author, trainer and facilitator specialising in diversity management, life coaching and creating flexible workplaces. Over two decades Kerry has worked with hundreds of organisations in sectors including the finance, retail, construction, mining, public and community. Her free articles and tips on work/life and diversity strategies and video on leading in a flexible workplace are available at http://www.flexibility.com.au/.

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