Many entrepreneurs feel the urge to say yes to most opportunities out of fear of missing out. They worry that, if they say no, they won’t be as successful. They don’t realize that setting boundaries and turning down opportunities that don’t fit them can open the door to the right opportunities. By accepting every opportunity that arises, they quickly fill up their plates and overextend themselves, becoming burnt out.
Working harder and accepting every opportunity is not the key to sustainable success. The key is to set clear and strategic boundaries and then communicate and enforce them.
Leaders typically take on more work than they can handle and perform tasks that they should refuse or delegate to team members. Many entrepreneurs don’t limit their work hours. One research study showed that long working hours significantly increase the odds of occupational health issues, with the highest risks associated with related health conditions like sleep disturbances and fatigue.
So, what is the solution?
- Prioritize high-value work and delegate the tasks that don’t specifically require your expertise.
- Set a clear work schedule so you aren’t working all the time.
- Communicate these work expectations to your team and your clients. It is impossible to enforce boundaries that have not been communicated externally.
Solving the email infinity problem
Most leaders believe that to serve their clients and be as efficient as possible, they need to answer every email message or call almost immediately, at any time of day. This leads to constant distractions and no work getting done. I have a term for this: “email infinity.” One research study found that 24% of people check their email daily, and 19% check emails as they arrive in real time. That is a lot!
How do we solve the email infinity problem?
Establish communication guidelines for both your team and clients and communicate those guidelines to them. I found that I would get stuck in an email infinity loop early on as a new business owner. I decided to create a priority system for all communication with my team and with my clients. The system was implemented internally with my team first and trained them on it. Then I brought it to my clients, letting them know that this is how I prioritize how I respond to communication and offered them the option to use this too. I even added a section in my email signature after my name and information that lays out plainly and clearly what these expectations are.
I also included a whole page on communication guidelines in my client onboarding process so new clients know upfront what to expect. Since implementing these processes and communicating them effectively, I have received significantly less pushback from clients and improved efficiency within my team. This has also empowered my team to set their limits and guidelines and not feel overrun by their work.
Creating an action plan for efficiency
Boundaries go far beyond just communication. Setting boundaries for operations is just as important. Often, leaders fail to set clear processes, leading to repetitive work, last-minute emergencies and poor time management. Using repeatable and automated systems for decision-making, approvals and workflows helps solve this problem. Every task and process done on a regular or incremental basis needs to have a formal written action plan that anyone can follow at any time.
Business owners tend to shy away from taking their valuable time away from work to create and implement these written policy plans because it does take time. They don’t realize they are already wasting so much time by not using a system. The time lost is little increments here and there, but all those increments add up to a significant waste of time and money.
In my accounting practice, we decided a while back to ramp up one line of service work that we provide for our clients and seek out more engagements in that area. Over the next year, we doubled the number of clients and the workload. At that time, we did not have any formal written process because the same one or two people were working on these projects and didn’t necessarily need a formal process immediately.
However, when we doubled our client load, we quickly realized that we needed formal procedures and policies in place for how this work was performed. Even though our workload was increasing, we took the time to develop the written policies that we needed. Now that our team has increased in size, new team members are able to follow these processes and learn how to perform their work more efficiently and quickly than they otherwise would have.
Communicating boundaries is key
The most important part of setting boundaries is communicating them. Your team and your clients don’t know what to expect unless you let them know. It’s that simple, but many leaders fail to communicate their internal boundaries effectively. The key is to set clear policies for every boundary you make, starting with availability, task management, workflows and especially communication. Next, inform your team and clients of these boundaries. It will take some time for everyone to adjust, and there will be a learning curve. This makes it very important to reinforce and remind everyone of these boundaries regularly and why they are in place. People forget things. Reminding people is not an annoyance or harassment. It’s a part of the process of maintaining your internal boundaries. Most importantly, lead by example. If you don’t follow your boundaries, no one will; they will only take you seriously if you follow through on what you say.
Overall, boundaries aren’t about working less. They help you work smarter. Leaders can focus on what truly matters and drive efficiency by using a well-structured and well-communicated boundary system.
The most effective leaders set firm, clear and well-communicated boundaries, making their businesses more successful.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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