Work-life balance for extension professionals: Maybe it should be redefined as ‘work-life effectiveness'

Abstract Text:

The literature is littered with articles related to work-life balance for a variety of professions. Do extension professionals experience work-life balance any differently than other professional or academic careers?  Should we redefine work-life balance to instead be referred to as work-life effectiveness as some writers have proposed?  Let’s start with the first question.  One can make the case for both sides of this argument.  The case for being different includes the situations where we expect a considerable amount of night and weekend work from extension professionals.  Many have split appointments with expectations in research and/or teaching, which tends to increase the expectations of their supervisor(s).  However, the case against it includes the fact that many professionals in academia and industry have careers that require travel and many have multiple job duties, similar to split appointments in academia.  While there may be some differences, there are likely more similarities.  Let’s evaluate the second question, should we redefine work-life balance as work-life effectiveness as some writers have proposed? In many cases, I would argue that we should be looking for work-life effectiveness, rather than balance.  Balance may imply some sort of notion of equal time at work and outside of work.  In reality, there are likely few times when that is the case.  Effectiveness, however, denotes a system or situation which produces the intended result. So how does an extension professional (or any other professional) enhance work-life effectiveness? Here are a couple of suggestions.  1. Define what success looks like. What does being an effective extension professional look like? This should be done in concert with your supervisor.  As for your personal life, perhaps asking ‘What does an effective spouse, mother, father look like?’ is an appropriate question to ask.  2. Set boundaries/maintain control.  This includes various aspects of your career, including your schedule.  If there are important family events that you want to be there for, be sure you get them on the calendar.  Schedule time for personal time.  Don’t schedule every available minute.  3. Find time to ensure your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being are nurtured, in addition to your professional development.  In summary, I believe we should be discussing this topic as work-life effectiveness rather than work-life balance.  In addition, by asking some key questions, extension professionals may be able to better define what that looks like for them as an individual.  

Keywords: Extension, effectiveness, success