Work-Life Balance - Creating & Sustaining Connections in a Complex World
Professor Linda J Kristjanson Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research & Development
What work-life balance is not:
It is not about being perfect It is not about being right It is not about being clever or having all
the answers It is not about being a superwoman or superman
Work-Life Balance
About staying connected to my self, to
my values, to the relationships I create along the way and to work and actions
that are meaningful.
Balance
About living authentically Doing work that feels intrinsically rewarding What matters is that the person undertakes
his/her work with integrity Balance also requires us to pay attention to our connections to family, to friends, to our self Remembering to breath
Balance
When I take time to take care of my own
health, my needs for rest, exercise, giving my body good food making time for the people I love Remembering that the work I do is important but it is not my whole life I keep my balance and my connections to others replenish and sustain me.
My Background and Work
Canada
Influence of parents Politics and social
contribution
Education and
international work
Growing up in this family taught me:
it was pure luck that I grew up in the family I
did with the privileges of education and opportunity we don't get to choose our parents, no one religion or culture or nation has the corner on truth, underneath our skin, we are more similar than different and that we are all part of an interconnected web of co-existence.
Nursing
Family influence Nurses who led the way Values match Witches, Midwives and Nurses Outlines struggles women have faced in
attempting to comfort, health and seek education to practice as health professionals
Women as Healers
1400s - source of healing was religious men messengers of God (priests) women who were healers were therefore
witches ergo - burn them Science education and university male domain Nurses were poorly educated, underprivileged backgrounds
Nursing Development
Florence Nightingale helped to elevate Nursing "No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other
definition of what a nurse should be than this - 'devoted and obedient.' This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do so for a horse. It will not do for a nurse (1859).
hygiene, environmental health factors, healing, nutrition, and psychological well-being through her diligent collection of data and statistical analysis
Notes on Nursing provided an understanding of
1850 - noted for her contributions to nursing research
Nursing as a Profession
Practice according to Nursing Act Most often at the patient's bedside 24 hours/day Make astute observations, triage patients in
emergency departments, provide care to individuals with increasing complex health problems, and employ more technically complex procedures than ever before Manage finite health care resources Nurse in hospitals, community clinics, people's homes, on oil rigs, in factories, in refugee camps, in prisons and in war zones Need to be well educated, well remunerated and recognised for the valuable work they do
Nurses leading the way
International Society of Nurses in Cancer
Care palliative care service run by Jewish and Arab nurses in Israel
Nurses in Brazil developed a serve to help
women with breast cancer and their families Acolhimento
Palliative Care
DVC Role
fortunate to work with talented, passionate
people who are undertaking research that matters and educating the next generation of researchers and science will contribute solutions to world problems. Professor Peter Newman, Svetha Venkatesh, Robert Amin, Moyez Jiwa, Vishnu Pareek, Tony Owen, Anna Heitz, and Dani Stehlik are examples.
Do I manage to achieve a work life balance?
Constant conversation with myself Over function at home
Over function at work
Put your health first - Taking care of you is
especially important when life gets hectic
Lessons Learned (and relearned)
Let go of perfection it is the enemy of good, Let go of your arrogance that you can do it all
and ask for help
will wear you out and make you inpatient with others
Look for the joke Pay attention to the people in your lives
