Workplace Boundaries: Cultivating Meaningful and Lasting Success

Workplace Boundaries: Cultivating Meaningful and Lasting Success

Boundary setting is more than work-life integration. As a workplace and society, we are more anxious, more distracted, and sleeping far less than recommended to live a healthy and fulfilling life. So, what’s it going to take to turn this car around and fix it? The solution: Boundaries.

Boundaries is an incredible solution that sits in front of all of us, yet it can feel far outside of our reach. Why can’t we just be more productive, sleep more, and worry less? The magic behind boundaries is that they force us to examine and rewrite the rules according to what we need. And for the high achievers in the group, drawing a line in the sand with a boundary is not a failure. 

After much trial and error, here are some high level action steps to cement your workplace boundaries and get you thinking.

 

• Ask yourself the hard question about your priorities.

If all the rules were to be tossed up in the air tomorrow, what would you focus on? Take away all of the must-haves and should-dos from your list and focus on your top priority. What comes to mind? It’s your gut-instinct. “I would only focus on building client relationships.” “I would be a manager and mentor to the associates.” Here’s the key: Don’t talk yourself out of your answer.

 

• Write down a brutally honest list of what you do in a day that is less than important but you do it anyway.

These are often things that we spin on the hamster wheel over and over again without any results. Often, this involves a lack of processes and systems. This often comes in the form of redundancies, triple checking, and re-doing duplicate work. However, it’s critical that these are acknowledged and escalated. Sometimes, the first part of drawing a line in the sand is recognizing the problem. 

 

• Take the mental leap that boundaries require.

It’s a near guarantee you’ll have a voice in your head that says “This is selfish. Don’t rock the boat. Just keep moving forward.” Quiet the little voice and give yourself a pat on the back for the mental gymnastics it takes to get yourself out of the spiral. Continue forward knowing true and well that boundaries are anything but selfish, but critical for your long term workplace well being.

 

Ok – so you’ve written down all of this valuable information. Now what? The most obvious answer is to yes – hire Poka-Yoke Solutions – to make it happen to reintegrate this into your workplace. If not, commit to these workplace boundaries for at least a quarter and watch how it impacts your peace of mind and commitment to showing up at work every day. While we aren’t proponents of becoming derelict on your workplace responsibilities in the name of boundaries, this exercise is about recognizing what does and does not work and having important conversations with your teammates, coworkers, and leaderships about how to effectively re-organize.

To transform your Operational effectiveness with a company that understands, acknowledges, and integrates workplace boundaries into the work we do, a book a call. 

 

Until then, contact us here and follow us on LinkedIn for more.