Work Relationship Boundaries
Having and maintaining good boundaries in working professional relationships may sound like psychological mumbo-jumbo to those of us too busy to worry about such illusive concepts. In reality however, when analysed thoughtfully, these boundaries can be easily defined and will have a profound impact upon your professional career and a global impact upon businesses. If you are an employer or an employee, being mindful of interpersonal boundaries in the workplace could make the world of difference to experience, environment and productivity.
Work relationships can be a confusing minefield to navigate. When roles are not clearly defined, overlap in responsibilities and tasks can cause tension between colleagues, compassion fatigue and trust breakdown. Aside from interpersonal issues, poorly defined roles and boundaries relating to professional responsibility ultimately lead to disillusionment with your job. With no ownership, you may be robbed of a sense of challenge, personal growth and accomplishment. This then also blurs the lines of employer feedback, reward and performance address, resulting in a lack of growth.
These failings present a double-edged problem. With disillusioned and disgruntled staff, global productivity is likely to fall. Tell-tale signs of a lack of relational boundaries in a business are the phenomenon of ‘high activity, poor productivity.’ If your working style is reactive and you are often contributing to other’s work or compensating for a lack of it, you may find that yourself and other employees are sporting weak or absent boundaries and you desperately need to put stronger ones in place. But how can this seemingly insurmountable task be tackled?
For businesses struggling with a lack of professional boundaries as a whole, taking time out from daily routines and dedicating team-building discussion is essential. The channels for honest communication need to be opened between team members and in most cases between individual employees and their employer. Through these discussions, clear job descriptions and roles of responsibility should be defined. Once communication is established, you should endeavour to be honest with yourself and colleagues about your time management and availability, work that falls outside of your jurisdiction or abilities and therefore should not be taken on and also any personal issues that may arise. If you feel that the situation is too difficult to tackle alone, outside perspective can be invaluable. Workplace coaches can work with individuals and teams to enhance communication, productivity and stress management.
