Boundaries at Work
For many years in my career conversations about boundaries felt like something for the courageous, privileged, or foolish. Many of my early career opportunities took an inordinate amount of hard work to prove my values and worth for opportunities that were handed to others. The scrutiny that was placed on my work as well as my appearance and ability to make others comfortable, made it so that boundaries were so far from my mind that it felt like a long-term goal. It wasn’t until the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic that I realized, having boundaries would be a necessary part of my thriving and growth. With the space to slow down and consider what contributes to my productivity, creativity, and engagement at work, I was able to move closer toward a career where I more consistently make the impact that I want to make and get closer to my life-long goals. These are a few tips that I’ve cultivated in my career around establishing and maintaining boundaries at work.
Tips for Setting Workplace Boundaries
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Block out specific time to prepare, produce, and process during the work day. Use the focus time feature of Google Calendar to designate time for specific activities. Set up a time to ground yourself and set intentions for the day. Establish a time for setting goals and reviewing tasks. Add time in between back-to-back meetings to organize and process your thoughts or block out 2 -3 hours for uninterrupted work, learning, or even imagination time. Don’t forget to add time for eating, rest, and movement
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You boundaries can’t be respected if your team and manager aren’t aware of them. As you get clearer on your needs and preferences to be successful, share them verbally and in written form. Don’t forget to reshare as your needs and boundaries evolve with your work.
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Whether it's for lunch, commuting, caregiving or personal commitments, set the time on your calendar and take it. If you find yourself working through time that is supposed to be for you, make sure you account for it later by adding extra time for yourself elsewhere in the week.
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Turn off Slack notifications, disable work emails, and calendar notifications (or even delete the apps) when you are outside of work hours. Work will always be there and it will always pile on no matter how much to try to get ahead. Unless your role deals with life or death circumstances, you deserve (and have earned) the time to be off when you’re outside of your work hours.
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You may feel uncomfortable, guilty, or even ashamed in prioritizing your needs and boundaries (employees from historically marginalized identity groups often do). Honor that feeling and your boundaries by (1) acknowledging that the feeling is true for you; (2) using some of your time off to process those feelings and ask yourself where the feelings are coming from; (3) finding ways to recenter your needs and desires to help you get back to a place of motivation and wholeness.
Tips for Supporting Healthy Boundaries as a Manager
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Review some of the examples above about setting workplace boundaries and acknowledge that expecting every single person on your team to work on the same exact schedule can actually be counterproductive for team success. Trust that you’ve given your team the resources to be successful, even if their work preferences and work styles differ from your own.
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We are all Zoomed out. As we continue to grow across global borders and time zones, it’s more important than ever to learn how to maximize the success of distributed teams through async methods. Rather than defaulting to a Zoom meeting, consider async options like voice notes, screen recordings, Slack huddles, or other collaborative non-live workspaces.
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To reinforce your value in work-life balance and engagement, plan a time to not have meetings. Whether it’s 1 day per week or 1 week per quarter, no-meeting days can be a great way to build engagement with employees who are likely under so much pressure to be on for work all the time.
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If you happen to be working outside of someone’s normal business hours, opt for scheduling messages to go out during their business hours rather than yours. Receiving a message at 11 PM your time can send the signal that employees are expected to be aware or respond to messages whenever they come through. The ScheduleLater option is available in Slack and in Gmail.
Implementing boundaries and enforcing them in new ways can be a struggle, especially if others in your organization do not feel empowered to set and maintain boundaries with you. Learn how to embody your unique power and how to share that with others in your organization through coaching.