Adam Grant on Work-Life Balance of "Integrators" Compared to "Separators"

Driving into work today I listened to a podcast by organizational psychologist and Wharton professor Adam Grant about work-life balance and how different groups of people engage on the blending, balance or separation between work and non-work activities.

A key point in this episode was the difference between:

• “integrators” (people who like or need spill-over between work and non-work
• versus “separators” (people who prefer to keep work and non-work separate… sometimes VERY separate) 

A main point seemed to be this was a fundamental difference between how people engage with their careers… and how we, as leaders, will be more effective if we adapt our approach to those individuals that are slightly (or greatly) of one approach to another.

An interesting example was how discussing various work-life benefits (telework, flex time, on-site daycare, etc.) is not effective for some colleagues… even those who could benefit greatly from these benefits… if their approach is fundamentally one of separation.

Conversely, respecting boundaries about work demands in off-hours generally is a good thing… but some people desire that integration… so measured feedback and appreciation is more useful…. than a critique about working early or late.

If you are interested, it was in the TED Work Life podcast for 18 April 2018 and titled “When Work Takes Over Your Life”.

If you do listen to this, or have read other work on this topic, please let me know… would be very interested to compare notes with you on this topic.

- Brian