Exploring the work-life intersection
LEADERSHIP – By Kathleen A. Provost, CFRE, MAdEd
As a professional fundraiser, I often question how I can be at my best while trying to build relationships with others. I have this notion that this global pandemic should be teaching us something about our way of life, and provide us with key learnings about our own well-being. In this post-COVID moment, I am now questioning how I perceive my well-being as it relates to my work
Lately, I have been considering the numerous factors that influence my well-being. I worry about housing costs, the unemployment rate, models of education, global markets, and interest rates. But, in addition to these economic factors, I still find myself asking: Is my profession aligned with my values? Given the amount of time I spend in the workforce, does it contribute to my well-being?
I think recent questioning of work-life balance is a direct result of this global pandemic. Work-life balance plays an essential role in the well-being of individuals. We have had to adapt and define the workplace differently in response to the global pandemic for more than 30 months. As a result, we are now questioning the social norms as they pertain to our work environment — specifically how we define a healthy work-balance life.
Dr. Maria Kordowicz, Associate professor in organizational behaviour and Director of the Centre for Interprofessional Education & Learning, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham, UK recently said: “Since the pandemic, people’s relationship with work has been studied in many ways, and the literature, across the professions, would argue that, people’s way of relating to their work has changed. Our ‘work’ and our ‘life’ aren’t easily disentangled”.
To get another perspective on the way people relate to work, I reached out to Tara Weber, to hear her thoughts on this issue. Tara has been reporting and anchoring in newsrooms across the country for more than a decade and in 2015 she joined the BNN Bloomberg team. As a Calgary-based western bureau chief, she covers the energy industry and a number of issues of interest in Western Canada. Tara is a recipient of Calgary’s Top 40 under 40 class of 2018. She sits on the boards of the Kerby Centre and Accessible Housing and two not-for-profit organizations that assist vulnerable populations in Calgary. In 2020 she became a member of the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference (GGCLC). It is during her GGCLC Nova Scotia tour this past summer that I had the privilege to meet Tara and became aware of her inquisitive mind. I was curious to hear how she perceived this “work-life balance”.
IN CONVERSATION WITH TARA WEBER
A new workforce
Tara’s perspective about the workforce offered me a breath of fresh air. When I asked Tara if she thought the pandemic forced us to question the meaning of our work, Tara talked about how prior to 2020 many of us were like “hamsters on a wheel” just going about our business. What the pandemic did, according to her, is make us stop and pause, which allowed us to examine the way in which we worked. We both agreed that individuals had been enduring cuts and/or finding ways to be more efficient — just to keep up. So now, this pause is giving us the space to ask: Do we always need to run so hard to get work done?
A different approach to our work
Tara and I went on to consider if returning “back to business, like things were” prior to this global pandemic, was possible. Tara illustrated very well a phenomenon we are currently experiencing. She said we now need to carve out our personal and professional lines and re-establish compartments that may have become “blurry” during the pandemic. This concept has recently been labelled “Quiet Quitting”. “Quiet Quitting” occurs when individuals are trying to establish better work-life boundaries by doing only what’s required to get the job done. It is about a conscious effort to uphold personal and professional well-being in the way we work, rather than risk burnout through working long or extended hours.
During the pandemic, Tara was saying “business did not stop”, we just had to find new ways of working. So now we need to explore: Do we end these new rules of engagement in our work which were developed to respond to COVID? Do we revert back to the working rules we had prior to the pandemic? Or do make up new rules? Hence, Tara and I questioned: Is there a need the need to change the relationship between the employer and the employee? Maybe, it is possible to develop new partnerships in which preventing burnouts is accomplished by actively working and communicating with employees to prioritize tasks, create clear email or social media expectations, and even develop new agreed upon work policies.
Tara referenced her own experience in the field of journalism, citing how the way the “business” is done evolved over time. She mentioned that as professionals, we adapted and took more and more on to ensure we deliver on our mandates. Yet, it was only when we experienced COVID, that we were given the permission — almost an easy excuse — to say “no”. COVID gave us the authorization to say: No, I cannot do something because of the risk of contagion. No, I cannot execute on a request because of rules of isolation, or by fear of spreading the virus. This moment in time may have provided us with a realization that we can influence our rules of engagement.
A new rule of engagement
This global pandemic has changed all the “rules of engagement”, as we knew them. A recent survey from Gallup (2022) found that young workers (generation Z and millennial) said physical wellness isn’t enough and that they want career, social, financial and community wellness, too. Hence, what at times may seem like “disengagement” may just be an attempt to get the work done. It just means an attempt to take control of our mandate at work. It does not mean “quitting or abandoning” my work. By carving boundaries, performance at work can be better, and there is energy left after the work mandate to tend to other identified priority activities.
One’s engagement provides a sense of purpose. To quote Tara: “This can provide the added sparkle we are all looking for.” In essence, professional individuals are attempting not to define themselves simply through their work, but individuals are struggling to create a healthy balance between work and life.
My final thoughts
This global pandemic has enabled us, as human being, to pause. As Tara said, it has given us permission to reflect on our current “rules of engagement”. We now have the opportunity of a lifetime to reshape these rules of engagement because it is time they respond to an evolving society. In our workplace, in our homes, in our communities and yes, in philanthropy too.
In May 2022, Julia Howell published in The Philanthropist Journal — Why philanthropy needs a new story. Howell wrote: “For many, the word ‘philanthropist’ conjures up old-timey images of the golden-hearted titan of industry or the giant in the community… it is time to remove ‘direction and control,’ and shift to more reciprocal relationships.”
In the field of philanthropy, we have a unique opportunity to shift the delicate relationships that exists between “the funder” and “the grantee”. More recently, how we establish the “rules of engagement” between “the giver” and “the receiver” within our endowment structures is becoming a paradigm to explore this reciprocal relationship.
Liban Abokor, Executive Director of Youth LEAPS and founding member of the working group for the Foundation for Black Communities, illustrated very well this reciprocal relationship when he said:
“I have never given or donated. I have returned … so what I’ve taken from the pot, I’ve simply returned, for others to benefit as well.”
Others like, Senator Ratna Omidvar with her podcast entitled Moving the Needle on Wicked Problems provides a forum for guest speakers to offer different lenses on some of the current philanthropic norms. And even Kris Archie, CEO of The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada warned us of these upcoming changes when he stated: “These changes will transform the world of all those involve”.
Today, we have the opportunity to take part in creating new “rules of engagement” with an objective of developing reciprocity in all areas of our work and of our lives. Let’s make the most of this unique chance.
Kathleen A. Provost, CFRE is currently the Director, Campaign Initiatives at St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, NS. She brings over 25 years of fundraising experience within the charitable sector. She has been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 2007, and a long-time member and volunteer for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). As a recognized leader, Kathleen has tailored presentations and workshops for French and English audiences at various events including AFP-Nova Scotia, AFP-Ottawa, AFP-National Congress, Coady International Institute and the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education. Kathleen is a McGill University graduate and holds a Master, Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University. She has received numerous recognitions during her career, including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her contributions to the charitable sector and 2021 Fundraiser of the Year in Nova Scotia.. She writes this column exclusively for each issue of Foundation Magazine.
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