Strategies for Setting Boundaries in a Time-Insensitive Workplace
Your morning started off a little rough. You slept a little past your alarm. Your child or pet decided that this is the perfect morning to alter the course of reality and go outside the norm of your morning routine. Due in part to this, you run late to your first meeting but manage to make it in front of your computer 2 minutes after the meeting started. You join your meeting and end up in an endless debate with your coworkers which ultimately amount to scheduling 2 more follow up meetings for a later date. As soon as you catch a breather, you get a ping via chat that takes you down the rabbit hole of tending to something pressing. Next thing you know, you’re in two back-to-back meetings without a chance to stop and eat your breakfast. As the clock nears noon, your mind begins to wander towards those leftovers you have in the refrigerator from the prior night. Mmm…the food is going to taste so good on your empty stomach. You leave the call, head to the fridge, heat up the meal and take a seat. Just as soon as you take your first bite, you’re interrupted by the sound of an impromptu video call that pulls you away from your plate. Next thing you know, it’s time for your next meeting and your chat messages are flooded with needs from your colleagues.
Sounds familiar? Unless you’re brand new to corporate life, I’d find it hard to believe that you’ve never been in this situation. In fact, this is probably you right now as you’re taking a moment to yourself to read this article – hoping you’ll be uninterrupted! And if so, then BINGO!
Well, this week we’re taking a page from Maxine Water’s book and focusing on reclaiming our time! While not predominantly a corporate millennial problem, I’m writing this from the notion that our generation is transitioning into becoming the next generation of senior leaders. Why is that important? Well, as we continue to grow into senior leadership roles, we gain the ability to influence cultural change.
This ‘always on, no time to stop and breathe’ culture runs rampant in more than just the tech industry. And I’m a firm believer that senior leadership sets the cultural norms for an organization. Although companies may form v-teams or employee resource groups who focus on creating tactics to enact cultural change, whether the change takes effect ultimately comes down from the top. If you have a leader that’s prompting that ‘always on, no time to stop and breathe’ culture, then it’s going to be very challenging to change that impression for a team.
What’s the root-cause of a time-insensitive work culture?
Before one can find solutions to overcome such a time-insensitive work culture, you must first ask yourself: What got us here? There’s a myriad of responses that could stem from asking this question. Whether you ask senior executive leadership or ask the intern that started 3 weeks ago. All perspectives vary but ultimately, finding consensus among the responses shines a light on the root cause of the problem.
I love getting to the root cause of everything! And that’s probably because I hate solving for the wrong problem. Getting to the root influences the resolution and can ensure that you’re resolving for the correct problem.
And while there may be some roles within an org that requires significant time-sensitivity, ask yourself whether that applies to every role. Does everyone’s role warrant time-sensitivity and thus operating in an urgent work culture?
Reset lines of communication.
Before we transitioned to a heavy remote-first work-culture, you could anticipate stopping past your coworker’s desk to ask a question or give them a call to get a quick response. Those were each considered standard lines of communication. Then when instant messaging became a thing, we gained a new way to communicate with our coworkers. And then somewhere along the way, we replaced the desk phone with mobile phones and/or calling each other through platforms such as Google Chat or Teams. This all felt very normal until the pandemic hit.
When the pandemic arrived, we entered an era of on-site first teams becoming either fully-remote or hybrid overnight. Everyone adapted the best way they could to perform their job function without proximity to their colleagues. The communication norms that were once established were disrupted and we found ourselves reaching out to one another in whichever way felt right in the moment. The lack of proximity evolved into using whatever means necessary to get a response from our coworkers whenever we needed answers.
If you’re in an org that’s inundated with an urgent need to get answers from your colleagues, it may be time to take a moment and refine lines of communication for your teams. Also consider level setting on response expectations and prioritizing which work-matters need an immediate response vs. something that could be handled in a few hours (or the next day).
No working on days off.
Show me a manager that’s never worked on a day off and I’ll show you a Swifty that doesn’t cry at the sight of Taylor Swift. It’s sometimes inevitable to find yourself working on a day off. With all your responsibilities and such, it’s amazing that you ever have time off! Well, I’m here to break it to ya – that’s doing more harm than good for your team.
Having a leader that works during periods of leave (whether it’s vacations, medical leave, maternal/paternal leave, etc.) sets a negative precedent for the team as it gives the impression that “even when you’re off work, you’re still obligated to work if needed”. This leads to prioritizing work over personal life. But the reality is that there would be no “work” without a personal life – because we’d fail to exist if we don’t take proper care of ourselves. As leaders, prioritizing and demonstrating a healthy work-life balance is key to developing a team who also prioritizes a healthy balance.
That may be a tough pill to swallow if you’ve wrapped your identity and sense of self-worth around your career. Although the accolades and being pat on the back for working hard feels good, it’s creating a culture of always prioritizing work over livelihood. Some of your team may see that as the “norm” and may develop the impression that they too must work around the clock.
Respect each other’s calendars.
Before I began working in corporate, I worked in retail on the sales floor. I didn’t make my own lunch schedule and heavily relied on my manager to let me know when it’d be OK to take my lunch or a 15-minute break. And those breaks were golden because if you were on a break, well, no one could bother you. It went against corporate rules to work off the clock.
That didn’t translate to working as a salaried employee in corporate. There was no person that I relied on to ensure that I got my breaks and absolutely did not work during those breaks. Instead, the onus was on me to ensure I gave myself time for lunch and uninterrupted breaks. Well, it was horrible at first because I didn’t learn the beauty of blocking off my calendar. In my head, I knew that I would take lunch at noon. But my calendar didn’t reflect that. Therefore, I sometimes found myself going days without actually taking a full lunch. I’d get a few bites in and then it was back to work because someone needed something. I eventually made a change and began to block an hour off on my calendar every day for lunch.
That was a game changer.
But the effectiveness of a calendar block goes two ways. I’ve witnessed instances where colleagues would fail to respect a block on someone’s calendar and proceed to schedule a meeting anyway.
My question for people who do that is: Why?
The more we insist that it’s OK to do that, the more our colleagues will continue to disregard our blocks. And that breeds a culture of ignoring the availability of your team members. Therefore, if you want to ensure you have time set aside to yourself to either eat, work on some planning, have focused time on a project, etc., give yourself some calendar blocks.
And on the flip side, if you have a need to schedule a sync with someone but their calendar is full of blocks, never assume that the person will work it out and attend your sync. Instead, reach out to them directly to request when may be the best time to sync. This also goes for scheduling a meeting in between a slither of availability on someone’s calendar. If I notice you have a fully booked day amongst a tiny free 30 minute slot – 9 times out of 10, I’m not taking the slot. If it’s pressing, I’ll reach out first before scheduling a meeting. But typically, I’ll schedule something for another day where your calendar looks to be more open.
And if schedules are ultimately just out of whack and not in alignment, then consider developing alternative ways to execute a meeting and have those unable to attend to engage async – such as watching a recording of the meeting and following up in the meeting chat or requesting their input for a meeting prior to the meeting start.
Have we become too accessible?
Making yourself accessible opens the door to around the clock accessibility. Phrases such as “feel free to reach out anytime!” are well intentioned and are often taken quite literally. You’ll find yourself with a chat message at 1:32 AM because “anytime” is well, “anytime”. So, by virtue, one would think it’s permissible to reach out anytime. It’s a nuanced phrase that we sometimes say figuratively but don’t necessarily mean literally. What most of us truly mean is “feel free to reach out any time that’s conducive to both of our schedules and doesn’t interfere with my personal life or something that I’m actively working on.”
But no one says that.
It goes against the norm of how we communicate with one another. So, the context is left out and the result is us getting annoyed when someone well intentioned reaches out at a bad moment. I’ve been guilty of this! And on the flipside, I’ve been on the other side of this scenario whereas someone catches me at a good time and I’m able to chat away forever. Like any relationship cliché: it’s not you, it’s me. But again, due to communication norms, we don’t express ourselves in that manner when the timing isn’t right. Instead, it gets reflected in our responses which may read as cold, too-direct, or even short-tempered.
To mitigate such friction, we could consider being more mindful of how we offer up ourselves to others instead of leading with open availability. I sometimes follow up the ol’ ‘reach out if you have any questions’ statement with a ‘If I don’t respond immediately, I’ll follow up the next day at the latest’. Of course, that requires me to actually hold up my end of the deal and follow up by the next day at the latest. Far easier though to do that rather than break my current focus and handle something immediately.
Let’s go make a difference!
Fellow millennials, as we embark on building new teams, orgs, and companies or whether we inherit existing ones, remember that as leaders, we execute the rules. Company/org culture stems from leaders and it’s imperative that we lead by example.
I'm fortunate to work in an org that values a proper work/life balance. It's made a huge difference in balancing my nervous system. And I want that for you, too!
And if you’re not yet in a position of influencing real change, maybe just casually mention this article in your next 1:1 with your manager. Hopefully they’ll get the message.
