Work/Life Balance: Personal and Organisational Strategies of School Leaders

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify strategies that school leaders might use to achieve better balance in their lives. This topic is examined in the context of the influences on, and outcomes of, the lack of balance between work and personal life, as well as the impact on school leaders’ performance and well-being. The study examines problematic work/life balance of school leaders as one reason why people do not want to apply for school principal positions and notes that, while that issue has been identified and restated in a number of studies, little evidence exists of the development of responses. This observation prompted the adoption of an alternative paradigm–Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider, 1987)—to the more usual conflict/deficit models, which are common in work/life research, and problem methods often used in research on principalship. This choice of methodology and stance was also influenced by a view that there were gaps in the literature. What is lacking is some affirmative view of the capacity of organisational leaders to achieve a positive work /life balance. The current work/life literature also often fails to examine what people actually do to ensure some harmony between work and other responsibilities. A major focus of this study was on contributing to the literature relating to work/life balance and principal well-being, supply and performance. The current study offers a contribution to the work/life literature by exploring the, to date under-explored, area of work/life enrichment. It is possibly the first study to examine thriving (Spreitzer, 2005a) as a lens for work/life balance. The study also contributes to filling some gaps in the literature in relation to the action of school leadership and the process of combining the leadership role and personal roles. It provides and analyses positive depictions of work/life balance and effective school leadership. This exploratory case study involved locating and hearing the stories of those who were deemed to be successful in their professional lives and in balancing their work and personal lives. Data were gathered in semi-structured interviews with eight school principals and four assistant principals from eight Victorian state schools.