“For business reasons, I must preserve the outward signs of sanity.” - Mark Twain

Today I am inspired by recent challenges in our file server environment to write about the importance of ensuring that the people I am responsible for, and to, have opportunities to refresh themselves and return to their work with new energy. I am very fortunate to lead a dedicated and experienced team of professionals. The dedication they bring to their work is a great asset and must also be managed with respect.

The members of our teams take great pride in the quality of their work and in the reliability, performance and utility of the services they provide. They can also take it personally when these services don’t meet expectations. Recently, a key server providing file services has become unreliable. I have been providing management for our Systems team in addition to my other duties on an interim basis and I’ve seen again how systems administrators will work long hours and weekends to get services back to normal.

As I work more closely with this team again, I see their desire to solve the problems and their frustration as they work with the hardware, operating system, and software vendors to find, and correct, the root cause. This has given me renewed opportunities to act on my belief that they must have the chance to rest, time for fun, and time for family and friends. In practical terms, this has meant making sure that I support them taking a break to go home and get some sleep, go out with friends as planned for Friday night, and get away with the family as planned on Memorial Day. In the longer term, it will mean making sure we give them time off to compensate them for the long hours they’ve worked on these issues.

At the same time that I work to respect staff’s need for balance, I need to make sure I respect their commitment and dedication. One of the tactics we can use to keep moving towards solving a problem while giving people the breaks they need is to share the work of diagnosing and resolving problems between several members of the team. This works pretty well as long as I remain sensitive to staff’s need to see things through to resolution. I’ve had them tell me in no uncertain terms that, while they may be darned good and ready (they may have used more emphatic language...) to finish working on a problem, they want to be the one to solve it, too.

Two other aspects of managing this balance are vacation schedules and drawing the line when staff are not allowing themselves the balance they need. I have very seldom asked anyone to reconsider the schedule for their vacation because of key project or operational needs at work. I have done this a few times, usually when directed to, and I believe it is to be avoided if at all possible. I consider it my responsibility to work with the management team so that we can staff and plan for our requirements, and find creative solutions when necessary, to allow us to support people taking time to be with family, explore our world, relax and disengage for a while. I've also had staff volunteer to postpone a vacation day to keep working on an issue. I usually accept those offers while keeping in mind how we can make sure they get time off soon!

Occasionally, I’ve had to meet over-zealous dedication to work gently, but firmly, and insist that a member of the staff take more time away from work. I remember one instance very clearly when I talked with an exceptionally talented and dedicated systems administrator about the amount of time he was spending at the office. He worked many late nights, and often on weekends, without being asked and was very productive. At the same time, I was seeing real signs of stress in him and was concerned he could burn himself out without more balance. As I recall, this was on a Thursday afternoon many years ago and I directed him to go home and not return to work until Tuesday morning. I also told him he was not to log in to any university computers during this time.

His first concern was that he’d done something wrong and was being disciplined. I reassured him that this was not the case and we talked about the importance of having time away from work to enjoy other aspects of our lives and how these help us return with new energy and fresh perspectives. He was conscientious about leaving work alone over this long weekend and, later that week, made a point of thanking me and telling me how relaxing and fun it had been to take more time with his spouse and their young family. He remained one of the most productive members of the team until he moved on to a great new opportunity some years later and it looked to me like he continued to honor this need for balance.

I am firmly on the side of those who say we work to live as opposed to living to work. Work is an important part of life and I think it can be a great source of personal satisfaction as well as the means to provide for our families and the non-work experiences vital for a full life experience. Still, work is only a part of our lives and we must strive, and help each other, to keep it in perspective with the other essential elements of our happy and meaningful lives. I wish you all the happiness and fulfillment that comes with this balance!