Video: 11 Tactics For Achieving Work-Life Balance

It’s elusive for most people. All but impossible for others. But if you think it’s difficult for you to achieve work-life balance, imagine what it’s like for people who live next door to their places of work and have hundreds of people who depend on them every day, often at all hours of the day and night. That’s the life of many Episcopal priests, who often have to balance the needs of their parishioners with those of their own spouses and children.

If these extremely busy individuals can find balance in their lives, what can the rest of us learn from them? That’s what Smeal College of Business professor Glen Kreiner and his colleagues Elaine Hollensbe of the University of Cincinnati and Mathew Sheep of Illinois State University set out to discover when they surveyed 220 Episcopal priests and interviewed 60 of them. Their results appear in the current issue of the Academy of Management Journal in their paper, "Balancing Borders and Bridges: Negotiating the Work-Home Interface via Boundary Work Tactics."

Work-life balance means different things to different people, according to Kreiner, assistant professor of management and organization. Some people, called "segmenters," like to keep their two lives separate—work at work and home at home. Others, called "integrators," prefer integration and tend to bring work home or bring parts of their personal lives to work. Most of us are somewhere in between, and tend to set up specific boundaries to keep some parts of our lives separate while others are integrated.

The other people in our lives—colleagues, supervisors, spouses, children, etc.—also have their own preferences for segmentation and integration. So while you may prefer not to be bothered while on vacation, your boss might have a different idea. Kreiner and his colleagues call these incidents—a coworker calling you at home, or not calling you, depending on your preference—work-home boundary violations.

To help achieve work-life balance, Kreiner says that individuals must first identify their own preferences for segmentation and integration. Next, they must manage their boundaries accordingly, including the boundary violations inflicted by others. How to do this? In the accompanying video, Kreiner outlines 11 tactics used by the Episcopal priests he and his colleagues interviewed. If these tactics are successful in the demanding, 24/7 lives of the clergy, they should be able to help all of us get a little closer to achieving work-life balance.