2010 Bay Path Conference

TWT writer Jaclyn Stevenson interviewed conference presenter Martha LaCroix, who says the key to time management is making good choices.

Martha LaCroix, executive vice president with the Yankee Candle Company, Inc., juggles multiple ongoing commitments to career, education, family and beyond. One is a standing date each September, when she makes it a priority to be on hand for her four children returning from the first day of school.

“It’s something I’ve done for years,” says LaCroix. “I bake cookies and I listen to everything they want to tell me about their first day, their classes and their teachers. It’s just a day off, and to them, it’s something they’ve come to expect and count on.” Handling this annual family tradition in much the same way as a board meeting in her day planner helps LaCroix divide her time without dividing her attention. 

“I think of my life as divided into four buckets: family, self, community and career,” she says, adding that the goal is not to pour an equal amount of energy into each, but rather to keep them in constant rotation. “The different areas of your life, no matter what they are, will never really be in balance. Something will always take the back seat; it’s a series of choices.”

LaCroix has another perspective on this topic, and she’ll speak to it along with four other panelists at the Bay Path Women’s Leadership Conference breakout session Work, Education, and Family Balance. As chief human resources officer at Yankee Candle, LaCroix at the helm of evolving trends in the workplace. She also has been leading the company’s Women’s Development Network since 2004, an initiative that allows women to connect with each other within the company throughout the year. The network stages events and workshops on a number of topics, ranging from financial health to stress management, and also has a mentoring program of which she is an active member.

“We spend the most time on the topic of balance,” LaCroix says. “Everyone has a life, and managing the pieces of life while at the same time feeling as though we’re doing a good job of it and not letting someone down—including ourselves—takes a lot of mental energy.” She adds that the recipe is different for everyone. “We all think someone must be great at this but in reality no one is. Still, in today’s digitally connected world, being productive at any or all times is the world’s expectation.”

LaCroix says some women might find it helpful to commit evening hours to work, after young children have gone to bed, while others thrive through mobile communication. Sharing ‘best practices’ is one way that women can find new ways to schedule time across all areas of life and multi-task effectively.

“What works for me is having a set of internal rules on what I won’t compromise on and what has to come first,” she says. “Sometimes, no has to be the answer, and women need to give themselves permission to do that. Sometimes there is a work event I need to be at, and other times it’s a dance recital.”

And sometimes, there are cookies.

Martha LaCroix will speak in Breakout Session B: Work, Education, and Family Balance along with Sarah Perez-McAdoo, MD, Christine Henriques Mark, Anne Caruso, Jessica Fraga.

Tags: career, Half the Sky, Martha LaCroix, work/life balance, workplace

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