MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

The driving purpose of the Baseline Assessment Phase is to determine the present state of your business and to understand how your current work-life balance aligns with where you really want to be. After you are guided through the steps of the assessment you will learn how to analyze this data in conjunction with the validated goals and expectations you developed in the first phase. This analysis will then allow you, under the guidance of your mentor, to make informed decisions as you move into the final stages of process planning and start process development. The assessment phase will kick off with a focus on your mindset and expertise. During the mindset portion and under the tutelage of your mentor you will test yourself, specifically your confidence and clarity, to make sure you are completely clear where you want to be and are committed to working through the program to get there. You will continue to work closely with your mentor assessing your expertise as well. This is a critical step in self-awareness, not only to confirm your expertise but also to better understand how you are perceived by your customers, employees, and peers in relation to competition, credentials, social proof, etc. After tackling mindset and expertise, you will be guided through a detailed analysis of the nuts and bolts of your business and conduct a thorough review of the current systems and processes you have in place for both the front ends and the back ends. Next you will review your current unique value proposition and analyze how it positions you in the marketplace. During this portion you will also look at the tasks you are handling directly which is the first step towards identifying areas to delegate and identifying repeatable tasks you can create systems and processes for. Finally, at the end of the Baseline Assessment Phase you will review your current support network and the role this network is playing in your current approach to business and work-life balance. This network will be slightly different for each program participant but generally include a mix of immediate family and circle of influence, mentors, coaches, mastermind and networking groups, professional trade organizations and key outsource partners.

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Objectives

01. Performance Reviews: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Self-Awareness: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Level of Expertise: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Goal Commitment: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Customer Perception: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Employee Perception: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Peer Perception: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Current Processes: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Market Position: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Tasks and Delegation: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Support Network: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
12. Professional Network: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month

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Strategies

01. Performance Reviews: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02 Self-Awareness: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Level of Expertise: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Goal Commitment: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Customer Perception: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Employee Perception: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Peer Perception: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Current Processes: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. Market Position: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Tasks and Delegation: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Support Network: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
12. Professional Network: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.

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Tasks

01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Performance Reviews.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Self-Awareness.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Level of Expertise.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Goal Commitment.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Customer Perception.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Employee Perception.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Peer Perception.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Current Processes.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Market Position.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Tasks and Delegation.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Support Network.
12. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Professional Network.

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Introduction

A History of Balance

Work-life balance has become one of the most popular subjects in academia, industry, politics, and society in recent years. This phenomenon arises as a result of demographic, economic, and cultural changes (Osoian Lazar & Ra?iu, 2009), such as the increasing integration of women in the workplace, the rising number of couples who both work outside the home, or the transformation of family structures, as well as population ageing, technological advancements, birth rate decline, and the need to improve human capital management. Furthermore, one of the key concerns of the so-called “Generation Y” (born between 1982 and 2000), who seek flexibility in time and space at work, is work-life balance.

As a result of these social, economic, and political changes, businesses have been more involved in work, family, and personal life issues. Work-life balance is a solution to work-family conflict, which happens when personal role expectations are incompatible with those of the productive role, and vice versa. Individuals who are exposed to higher stress experience tension as a result of this conflict, which reduces their productivity and has a negative influence on organizational performance (Kalliath & Brough, 2008).

In this context, the organization should adopt a proactive approach to implementing work-life practices, building a flexible structure to adapt to external changes and contribute to people’s overall happiness. As a result, work-life balance, like any other human resource strategy, can be viewed as both a problem and a source of competitive advantage for organizational leaders (Coff, 1997; Pfeffer, 1994). Work-life balance can aid in the retention of skilled individuals in the business, resulting in a higher return on investment for organizations looking to attract and retain highly motivated and committed personnel (Yamamoto & Matsura, 2012).

Work-family conflict is defined by De Luis Carnicer et al. (2004, p.54) “as a form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressures from work and family spheres are mutually incompatible.” The demand for balance emerges from a conflict between the professional and family spheres, which leads to the formation of roles that are potentially incompatible and difficult to reconcile.

For an individual, this leads to a lack of job and personal satisfaction, as well as stress, which reduces quality of life. Work-family conflict is linked to an employee’s educational level (individuals with a bachelor’s degree face more conflict), professional category (senior managers face more work-family conflict) and is experienced equally by men and women (De Luis Carnicer et al, 2004; Eagle, Miles & Icenogle, 1997). However, it differs by country (Crompton & Lyonette, 2006) and individual traits such as higher degrees of neuroticism and depression, both of which contribute to the rise in conflict (Frone, 2000).

Defining Balance

When it comes to defining work-life balance, there is a lack of consensus among experts, hence there is no widely acknowledged definition (Kalliath & Brough, 2008; Klöpping, 2011). Most definitions, according to Devi & Ravi (2013), imply that work and life demands must be prioritized equally. Understanding work-life balance, on the other hand, is the starting point for both individuals (who need to manage their resources) and businesses (who need to design programs that enable balance and so meet the demands of their employees) (Reiter, 2007).

In their formulation, most definitions refer to the coordination of the working and personal spheres. Feldstead (2002) points out that a person’s equilibrium is independent of their age or gender. While some authors in the 1980s considered work-life balance to be primarily a female concern (Hall & Richter, 1988), it is now a topic that is receiving attention and relevance from both men and women. Veiga (2010) also emphasizes the importance of “maintaining a healthy and balanced life,” as work-life conflict leads to issues such as low professional and personal satisfaction, decreased organizational commitment, and stress. As a result, work-life balance is a strategy for reducing conflict between professional and personal roles.

Other authors allude to the activities that persons must engage in in order to balance demands from many areas in order to meet these needs with limited resources while retaining life autonomy; as Fleetwood (2007) puts it, “control over when, where, and how they work.” They also stress the importance of establishing an organizational structure that allows men and women to strike a balance between the two worlds. A second group of authors defines work-life balance as the level of personal satisfaction achieved when all aspects of one’s life are in harmony (Joshi et al, 2002; Greenhaus, 2003; Grady et al, 2008).

However, work-life balance rules will not be effective unless they are combined with a corporate culture that prioritizes work, family, and personal life values, as well as managerial support. Employees will be hesitant to participate in these initiatives if they fear negative consequences for their work (Eaton, 2003) or even antagonism from supervisors and coworkers. As a result, it is vital to examine work-life balance policies and their implications for the firm.

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Elements Of Work-Life Balance

The most important aspects of work-life balance

Author Jeff Davidson is an expert on work-life balance. He believes there are six components to achieving work-life balance:

1. Self-management

Taking care of your personal needs, such as eating, sleeping, and exercising, is critical to maintaining a healthy work-life balance. For example, if you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll be weary, which will affect your work. And, more crucially, in an entrepreneurship it is entirely up to you to manage your own requirements.

2. Organize your time

Making decisions about priorities and how you’ll complete all things on time can be difficult. You must also deal with personal assignments at the same time. Setting goals and prioritizing vital and urgent tasks are recommended by Davidson. The Eisenhower matrix technique, which can help you improve your time management skills, is based on this principle.

3. Stress reduction

Hearing diverse noises at work and dealing with distractions, whether from coworkers or from the outside, might cause you to become agitated. As a result, you must find a technique to adapt to this type of atmosphere in order to reduce your stress levels. Furthermore, according to Davidson, multitasking should be avoided because transitioning between projects and tasks can be stressful.

4. Change management

No matter where you work or what you do, you’ll almost certainly have to adjust to regular changes. You must guarantee that the volume of change does not overwhelm you in order to effectively manage these changes. This also applies to any changes in your personal life.

5. Technology management

Technology should make your life easier, not more difficult. Keep in mind that you are in charge of technology, not the other way around.

6. Organizing free time

Taking vacations is an important part of achieving a work-life balance. Additionally, to avoid boredom, spend your free time doing a variety of things.

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How To Evaluate A Company’s Work-Life Balance

The following steps should be taken to completely examine work-life balance in an organization:

1. Assessment using a checklist

It is advised that a checklist be used to examine the applied measures and their amount in order to determine the measures taken by an organization to ensure work-life balance among its personnel. During the evaluation, it is vital to