How do I manage boundaries at work?

One very effective way of knowing how to handle a lot of conflicts (both overt and covert) at work is by understanding boundaries, and making them clear. People often have difficulty with establishing clear boundaries – boundaries which clearly separate you from other people and help to define who you are and what you do. Boundaries can protect you, help promote healthy relationships and minimise conflict.

Boundaries are based on your needs, values and beliefs

There are various boundaries that can be considered in relation to a person’s relationships and activities at work:

Personal and behavioural boundaries: This is about what is acceptable behaviour or not – eg. bullying and sexual harassment is unacceptable. Yet some people are not 100% clear about this – on both sides – those that bully and harass and those that allow the behaviours to continue because they do not have clear boundaries.

What level of intimacy are you comfortable with? What about a boss who talks about their intimate details, or asks you about personal concerns, finances or asks you about your sex life? If you go along with it, even though you feel uncomfortable – this is your boundary weakness, because you are NOT MANAGING your boundaries. The best way to fix this is to create boundary awareness – recognise your own boundary and ignore the person or give feedback.

Physical boundaries: This might be about touching or invading a person’s space, eg. opening a person’s drawer in their desk, or searching through a bag… even reading over someone’s shoulder can upset a person at work because another person is “stepping over” a boundary.

Role boundaries: The range of tasks and activities you are meant to do, or not meant to do at work are boundaries, even someone’s availability or non-availability can reflect a boundary.

Ethical boundaries: These relate to what is considered right or wrong or even appropriate, in relation to activities at work or even more generally, eg. use of company property and resources for personal use.

It is usually best to negotiate boundaries up front, or as soon as there is an issue. Even teams need boundary clarification, eg. A team may be carrying out certain roles which can be in conflict with another team… so they should get together and agree on what their roles are to avoid any conflict and facilitate a smooth working relationship.

View clip of Managing Boundaries.

Eve Ash interviewed psychologist Peter Quarry in Managing Boundaries, a new release DVD in the TAKE AWAY TRAINING series distributed by Seven Dimensions.