Since the England women’s national football team, the Lionesses, won the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 a couple of weeks ago, I have spent more time than usual scrolling online for snippets of football highlights and post-match press conferences, reliving and absorbing the build-up and crescendo of the team’s glorious victory.
Like many others I’ve spoken to, or read commentary from, since the memorably nail-biting final match, I am enthused and inspired by this group of women. Women who have championed and conquered a typically male-dominated sport and domain; and who are now influencing the next generation of players, fans and investors.
And, of course, I am drawn to consider their experience through the lens of my blog ‘A Fine Balance’; to explore what kind of perspective it offers on work-life balance.
Work, Rest & Play: going for what you want “every day“
I imagine that the players, and the team that has worked with them on the side-lines, didn’t live a very balanced existence in the run up to the Women’s Euro 2022. So motivated must they have been by their mission, that it must have been near impossible to prioritise anything else in their lives above their preparation for, and performance in, the tournament. And who knows if their success could have been attained otherwise.
It is this sense of mission, backed by drive and ambition, that strikes me as being the key motivator of the work-life balance choices that these women would have been compelled to make.
In the chaotic excitement moments after the final whistle blew, their coach Sarina Wiegman made a passing comment about how the footballers were able to attain their success. “They wanted it every day”, she said.
“What next?”, Wiegman was asked in one of press conferences I watched.
“Now we celebrate”, she said.
It speaks volumes that Wiegman is, in that very moment, encouraging the team to pause, absorb, reflect and enjoy their success. When mission-focussed, celebrating success can seem like a distraction, or even a weakness, on the course of ambition.
But Wiegman went on to explain how the players – as well as she herself – would benefit from resting, enjoying their experience of victory, spending time with their families, building up their reserves to start again and get their minds in gear for the next tournament.
This is a strategic move, of course. It stands to reason that resting increases the chances of her team being physically and mentally rejuvenated and at peak fitness to take on their next challenge. Nevertheless, it takes some compassion, foresight and confidence for a leader to ‘grant permission’ to essentially stop working.
Wiegman is effectively pointing to a work-life balance pattern that I’ve observed before in people that hold senior and responsible jobs. It goes like this:
A person works intensely for an extended period (be it over a course of weeks, months or even years), prioritising work over everything else in life (family time, leisure, sleep etc.); followed by a period of extended rest (such as going travelling, or taking a career break or change).
It’s a work-life balance pattern that relies on a strong and consistent sense of drive and motivation. And a very clear mission-focus. It comes across as an intense approach and one that would be hard to sustain long-term, inflexible when accommodating the needs of others as work does – and must – take priority.
This kind of work-life balance pattern is an extreme lifestyle option and one not uncommon in professional athletes. Again, I refer to what I’ve gleaned of Sarina Wiegman’s leadership style to make some sense of it.
Teamwork makes the dream work
As well as encouraging the players to restore themselves with rest, despite any external pressures pushing them otherwise, Wiegman plays on their united sense of mission, to push through a strong sense of teamwork.
More than them as individuals “wanting it every day” for themselves, the Lionesses’ mission united them as a team, and this was palpable on the pitch. Together, and as individuals, they had their eye on the prize.
Presumably the resulting sense of camaraderie, teamwork, and shared responsibility would have motivated and influenced their work-life balance choices, as they pushed themselves to meet the physically and mentally demanding preparations in the lead-up to the tournament.
Wiegman positions herself as ‘one of them’; she too is as committed as the players in her work-life balance choices.
In another interview I listened to (yes, another one), I heard her explain her decision-making process for selecting players for the tournament’s team. She acknowledges the enormity of her decision; that this is not something she takes lightly, but that she is anchored by wanting the best for the team overall. She sounded honest and sensitive to individuals’ feelings, yet resolute on her drive for the team to succeed.
Under Pressure
And this brings me nicely on to one more important driver of this extreme work-life balance lifestyle: pressure. Pressure to be selected; pressure to win; pressure to meet others’ (or one’s own) expectations.
There is no getting away from the immense competitive pressure that the Lionesses were working under; the stakes couldn’t be much higher. Motivated by their mission, it is probably a no-brainer that they would opt to lean more on the “work” side of the work:life ratio. But they will each have had to make choices too.
Motivated by their mission, it is probably a no-brainer that the Lionesses would opt to lean more on the “work” side of the work:life ratio. But they will each have had to make choices too.
Wiegman’s leadership approach is admirable for many reasons, and it must surely contribute towards motivating her team to maintain a work:life ratio that yields high results. And one that sustains them too. It may not be the work-life balance that courses through their entire careers overall. But for now, it is necessary.
Mission-drive: the gift that keeps on giving
Possessing a sense of mission is a gift worthy of acknowledgement. Much as it can bring with it hard work and pressure, which can have negative connotations, its absence can drastically skew a person’s sense of work-life balance.
The Lionesses pose an extreme example, and of course a person can still be guided by a sense of “mission” without it dominating their work:life ratio so dramatically. It is something I’ve encountered numerous times when interviewing people for this blog, and almost without exception, I’ve found that having purpose gives meaning to work-life balance choices.
This ranges from people like Susan, a single mother on a “mission” to take care of her children, and whose identity is caught up in her career and the social mobility challenges that she has overcome to achieve it (another “mission”!); to Nadine, who has purposefully given up her career to pursue an occupation as a stay-at-home-mother, a “mission” that she considers more valuable than her career ambitions.
Most recently, when I interviewed Tom McLaughlan for this blog and podcast, he talked about his energising sense of purpose in the work he dedicates his time to during retirement.
When I interviewed Tom for ‘A Fine Balance – The Podcast’, I asked him how a person finds their purpose, to which he simply and assuredly responded: “It finds you”.
He spoke passionately about the importance of harnessing your sense of purpose; and of enjoying the sense of accomplishment that accompanies it. But, he also warned that it needs “managing”; because if dedication to your vocation isn’t balanced alongside other things in life, the consequences can be destructive.
The Lionesses epitomise what it is to be “on a mission”, to strive for something you want so badly that everything else can wait.
A person would be lucky to find such motivation in both their chosen “work” and “life”, in whichever way the two components manifest themselves as work-life balance choices. Yet, it would seem wise to heed Wiegman’s approach to allow yourself a pause at intervals too: to enjoy your success, however you define it. And to pay homage to whatever it is you’re working towards – be that in your career or home life – acknowledging it, challenging it, accepting it. Before getting back to work.