Think before diving into app minefield
WORK-life balance is the holy grail so many are looking for; something that has fuelled the growth of a thriving global industry, yet continues to elude most of us.
The reason, in part, is that work-life is an ill-defined outcome.
Before we can begin to hope to achieve any kind of “balance”, we need to start with a clear idea of what we are trying to achieve.
Harry Jansen Kraemer Jr, author of From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership, defines balance as “the ability to see situations from multiple perspectives and differing viewpoints to gain a much fuller understanding. Balance means that you consider all sides and opinions with an open mind”.
It is within this context that I approach this review of apps to improve work-life balance.
There is an app for everything, it seems. There are literally millions of software developers around the globe and they are hard at work!
The number of available apps in the Google Play Store was placed at 2.4 million in September last year. And, despite its efforts to clean up outdated or abandoned apps, Apple’s App Store is still growing.
Sensor Tower estimates that it could more than double in size by 2020, with five million apps available.
Exploring which apps could help us achieve a better sense of work-life balance therefore involves some critical thinking.
Having a meaningful work-life vision means developing a clear statement that is compelling to us and provides guidance for our daily behaviour, decisions and practices.
A work-life (not work/life) vision also helps to narrow our focus, which is what is needed if we are to successfully navigate the millions of apps available.
Here is a working example of how the vague concept of worklife balance can be unpacked by starting with a clearly defined vision statement: “Work-life balance means managing my energy so that I can be as enthusiastic and productive as possible in all areas of my life; physical, spiritual, mental and emotional”.
The focus here is on managing energy levels and fostering enthusiasm in four areas: physical, spiritual, mental and emotional.
In this working example, each of the four areas manifests in a professional and a personal way and one action is cited in each:
Physical action: exercise: efficient work practices
Spiritual action: reflection: shared values
Mental action: quality social connections: life-long learning
Emotional action: personal respite: boundaries
Life is more detailed and complicated than this but research conducted by the Nielsen Company, which studies consumers in more than 100 countries, shows that the average number of apps used by individuals is 27 and that this number has been constant for the last five years.
The point here is that we cannot over-engineer this review of work-life balance because we have limited capacity in terms of time, money and attention. There are only so many apps that we can realistically use properly.
With this understanding of the ways that the four work-life balance focus areas manifest in our lives, both personally and professionally, we can then look for apps that can help us maintain enthusiasm across this matrix.
Achieving a personal sense of work-life balance is no easy feat. It takes critical thinking, application and daily effort. It is tempting to dive into the App Store without this investment but it will most likely lead to disappointment.
Working through this methodology will allow individuals to see situations from multiple perspectives and differing viewpoints.
The methodology outlined in the example above can be applied corporately too.
Nubera, a Gartner company headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, is an ecosystem of business app and software discovery platforms. Its mission is to help professionals find the software and apps that best meet their needs.
It serves small and medium businesses and is perhaps a good place to start for those ready to apply this approach to achieving work-life balance at an organisational level.