Searching for a balance between studies and work. Taking steps towards becoming a whole manager..

When discussing with my MBA students I often hear them wondering about how to manage to study effectfully while you are busy at work, how to manage your time with both “studies” and “the other life”.

My counterquestion is: why are these two things kept on two separate files? The idea with University of Applied Sciences MBA studies is that the student has the possibility to work and study at the same time. To learn new thinking, new theories, new ways of doing things, and take the new knowledge and skills directly to work. Test the theories in practice. Students can get actionable takeaways with them when they leave study sessions and workshops and go back to workplace.

In the following I discuss some of issues taken up in an article in the  Talouselämä copy 27/2014. The article is about how the managers combine work and life. Maybe we get some ideas from this article to take with us to the studying..

People often discuss the importance of the balance between them. The concept of balance between work and life includes an unrealistic thought that a business manager should have a “healthy life” to counterbalance “stressful and unhealthy work”. Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy say that one solution is to optimize and strengthen your performance capacity both at work and outside the work.  This is what is meant with the idea of “becoming a whole manager”.  There is a lot of proof about the benefits of retaining the balance, for example from the research “The Energy Project”.  Read more about this in here.

Managers with a lot of experience speak about the importance of motion and pondering. Managing and leading is more than just running a business. Maximizing your own motivation and mental strength is also part of it. Helle Bundgaard, a neuropsychologist, says that this is “becoming a superuser of your brains”. Experts talk also about emotional health, finding happiness and reasonableness in one’s own work. The article refers Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, the CEO of LEGO, who says that managers and companies can become and remain alert and effective by regarding work as a “serious play” which includes learning, creative problem solving and joyfulness! 

Wish you inspiring moments during your studies!