An interesting study by Ellen Galinsky of Families and Work Institute called ?Leaders in a Global Economy? on how men and women in 10 multinationals have dealt with primarily the following two questions:

The findings throws up some very interesting aspects of what is becoming a priority for people at work and who ultimately are more successful.

While 61% of the respondents were what one would call ?work-centric?, nearly 32 % put the same priority on their lives on and off the job (dual-centric). Some of these could also be tri-centric (work, home and a third area- a hobby / community work)

What difference does it make to be dual-centric?

While Dual-Centric people actually work about 5 hours less per week compared to work-centric people, there is no difference to visible success indicators such as compensation, number people they supervise or their reporting level.

In addition:

So what should organizations be doing?

Be able to design appropriate ?work-life balance? policies and more critical, create an environment to encourage people to be ?dual-centric?.

So, if multi-tasking was not enough, this age demands we be multi-focused in mutli-areas too! (with similar levels of competence!)

Read the summary
here

• Deepa