NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland – Panelists at two Association-wide sessions devoted to work-life balance issues Thursday emphasized three key areas when contemplating changes to add flexibility for athletics administrators and coaches.

Candice Lange, who operates a consulting firm that specializes in work-life balance issues, said the athletics department must identify who has to agree to the changes, why someone might not agree to the changes and the necessary response if the answer is no.

Balancing professional life and personal life has been a hot topic within the Association in recent years.

“What I’ve noticed is that people working in intercollegiate athletics have a strong desire to do their very best work, to excel and win,” Lange said. “Sometimes that is all good, but they can’t let that go too far. They say, ‘If I’m really good I should be able to do this myself. I should be able to tackle my home life, my family life and have no one know that I have work-life balance issues.’ What that does is put more pressure on the individual.”

Lange said sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that working many hours equates to working hard. She suggests that the quality of the time far outweighs the quantity.

“The work flow needs to be efficient,” Lange said. “It’s about how much time you are spending on things that don’t matter – how much time you are spending on something that makes you neglect things that are really important.”

Like most things in life, a little communication can go a long way at helping everyone reach an amicable solution. Suzette McQueen, assistant athletics director of external affairs/media relations at Adelphi, was a panelist in the afternoon session. She has a 3-year-old daughter and a 15-month-old son and has come up with a way to juggle her professional and personal life.

She and her assistant sports information director and a graduate assistant split the bulk of the duties to make sure everything is covered.

“If there is a night game, my assistant will do the in-game statistics and then e-mail me the file,” McQueen said. “I write the story when the kids go to bed. I work the weekend games, and he can take that time off or he can go to track meets where he is also our head cross country and track and field coach.”

Before she had children, McQueen said she was very hands-on with every aspect of her job. Her family life has brought about changes.

“I have learned to delegate,” McQueen said. “When I started working at Adelphi, I felt like everything had to be done by me. I’ve let go of a lot of things, and it has made a huge difference.”

Lange said another key to developing a good work-life balance is how people distribute their energy.

For example, if someone has a lot of work to do and goes home because he or she wants to be with the family – yet he or she thinks about work the whole time – that person might as well have stayed at work.