The scope of Elena’s job expanded until it threatened to consume her. She still had to juggle all her old tasks, while also responding to the disruption of the pandemic. She was recruiting and onboarding new employees, not to mention managing the transition to virtual collaboration. And the questions never ceased! She tried to respond in real-time, but she felt time slipping through her fingers. Worse, she had trouble leaving her home office at what should have been the end of her workday.
One in three women has thought about leaving or downshifting her career over the past year as burnout has risen. Women in leadership have been more proactive than men at promoting employee wellbeing since the onset of COVID-19 and focusing on DEI, reports McKinsey. But how do you set boundaries as a leader when you’re constantly bombarded with demands for your time?
Setting Boundaries for YOU
If you don’t set clear boundaries, people will assume that you are able to handle any task they ask you to do. Only you know what your real capacity is. Take the following five steps to protect your time and energy.
1. Get clear on what’s most important.
Define priorities and the key goals that will help you achieve them. There is an infinite list of goals you could pursue, but which ones are most central to your role? Which ones bring you the most satisfaction? And which steps are most critical to take? When you determine what’s most important, you can make it happen.
2. Evaluate how your needs have changed.
Many women have found the scope of their responsibilities increasing as they juggle work and home life. Consider what additional demands there are at work now. Are you picking up the slack for coworkers who left your organization? Are you implementing new hybrid systems?
Most of us have experienced scope creep in work and home life. Dr. Ellen Ernst Kossek of Purdue University warns that flexible and remote working options can backfire. Employees, especially women, can experience “a greater erosion of boundaries between work and personal life,” The New York Times reports. Therefore, many women are “setting new rules for how and when” they will work. Discussing your needs and designing alternatives collectively with coworkers has been very beneficial.
To avoid scope creep, ask lots of questions before taking on a project so you’re clear on what it entails and whether it fits your goals. Make sure everyone involved is on the same page, and write down the agreed-upon project scope.
3. Propose alternatives.
Rather than just saying yes or no when someone asks you to do something, present options. Here are a few examples:
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Negotiating the start date for a project.
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Agreeing to help a colleague with a task if she lets you teach one of her direct reports how to do it.
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Offering to contribute in a scaled-back way.
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Agreeing to head up a project if the other party assembles a capable team to carry it out, rather than doing it single-handedly.
Through these options, you can help out your colleague in a way that feels doable for you.
4. Revise deadlines.
If something truly urgent comes up, revisit deadlines for other projects to make things feasible. Negotiate these other deadlines before taking on that urgent project.
5. Determine when you’re willing to work overtime.
You may be willing to work late occasionally. But if you don’t define your boundaries, anything and everything can keep you working overtime. Consider which circumstances justify overtime work for you and how often you’re willing to stay late.
Taking all of these steps will set a good example for your team, but let’s review some additional steps you can take to support them.
Helping Your Team Set Good Boundaries
Through strong communication with your team, you can avoid piling too much on their plates. Guide them in maintaining their own boundaries with the following 4 steps.
1. Revisit job descriptions.
Sit down with each person and revisit their job description to make sure you’re both genuinely clear on what it involves. Has mission creep happened? If so, consider whether you need to redefine the responsibilities of the role or take some tasks off your team member’s shoulders.
2. Review boundaries.
Ask each member of your team what boundaries they’ve set already and where they have difficulty maintaining them. Help them review their personal boundaries if they seem to be struggling, if they never seem to turn down requests, or if they often work late. Don’t assume that everything is going fine just because they haven’t spoken up yet.
3. Show empathy.
Showing empathy for the people on your team instills a sense of psychological safety, which can help prevent team burnout. Psychological safety also promotes “interpersonal risk-taking,” meaning people will feel safe asking for help or sharing ideas. A recent study found that when leaders showed empathy toward nursing staff during COVID-19, it helped reduce emotional exhaustion among the nurses.
4. Adopt a group ritual.
Start a ritual for the end of the workday to do with the whole team, especially if you work remotely—a way to wrap up the day and say, “We’re done now.” For example, have everyone share an accomplishment of the day in a five-minute video check-in.
As Elena took these steps to uphold boundaries and help her team members set their own, she found their collective stress level decreased while morale rose considerably. People carried out their roles more smoothly and effectively, herself included. And most strikingly, they were finishing work without overtime!
Want more support in setting boundaries for yourself and your team? Reach out to Amanda to start the conversation!
Sources
Wayne Baker, “How to Overcome Your Reluctance to Ask for Help at Work,” Greater Good. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_overcome_your_reluctance_to_ask_for_help_at_work
Priscilla Claman, “Set Better Boundaries,” Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/01/set-better-boundaries
Michael Drayton, Anti-Burnout: How to Create a Psychologically Safe and High-Performance Organisation (2021) https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003027157/anti-burnout-michael-drayton
Ying Ma et al., “Curbing Nurses’ Burnout During COVID-19: The Roles of Servant Leadership and Psychological Safety,” Journal of Nursing Management (2021) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jonm.13414
McKinsey, “Women in the Workplace 2021,” https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace
Priyansha Mistry, “Set Boundaries at Work Without Being Mean,” The HR Digest https://www.thehrdigest.com/learn-how-to-set-boundaries-at-work-without-being-mean/
Raksha Vasudevan, “How Some Women Are Remaking the Workplace to Better Suit Their Lives,” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/us/workplace-boundaries.html