Bound Together: Why Boundaries Drive Performance

Boundaries = what you create + what you allow.

Thank you, Dr. Henry Cloud, a leadership expert, psychologist, and best-selling author of several books, including Boundaries for Leaders: Results, Relationships, and Being Ridiculously in Charge, for this simple framework.

To build and scale a successful business, leaders need to establish boundaries that will facilitate collaborative relationships, define acceptable behaviors, set performance expectations, and produce the emotional climate for excellent output.  

Boundaries create your culture – aka how work gets done in your company. How you execute day-to-day on your vision.

Boundaries help leaders and their team conserve emotional, physical, and mental energy, allowing them to operate at their highest levels.

Here are three must have boundaries for success!

Tackling Your Time

Literally, tackling! Not going to lie, I have stood outside a CEO’s office so he couldn’t leave at night without answering me (slightly stalkerish).

As the Founder and CEO, everyone wants a piece of you. Your team has questions; your board wants updates; your investors want to share their opinions; you are invited to speak at industry events or give interviews; you have endless opportunities to network, and on and on.

Setting time boundaries may mean blocking out time on your calendar for the focused, deep work; scheduling meetings and calls only on certain days; limiting meetings to the afternoon if you work best in the morning; saying “no” more often or saying yes but here are my parameters; or keeping meetings to 25 minutes and requesting agendas be circulated 24-hrs in advance.

It also means blocking time to reset and recharge. To unplug. Spend time with friends and family, take a run, meditate, do something creative, read a book, whatever brings you joy and fills your tank.  Your boundaries are practiced through habits.

Priorities & Focus

What are the company’s priorities and goals? Where should the team be focused? Where should your attention be focused? As the founder and CEO, you are setting not only the vision but also the specific scope, direction, and milestones.  

As leaders we tend to do what other’s want us to do or ask of us. We address their needs and get caught up in the weeds rather than doing what produces the most value.

Similarly, your team is being pulled in many directions. Boundaries mean being honest about what you can and cannot take on. What’s your capacity?  “I hear that you have this urgent need, but my plate is full right now. I would be happy to help next week.” Or, perhaps to your manager, “if I take this on, I will have to put X, Y, Z on the back burner, is that the best outcome for the team?”  

You can see how this builds trust. If your team is honest about what they can accomplish and on what timeframe, you trust they will get the work done.  

Don’t Cross the Dotted Line

As you scale, leaders must delegate more responsibility and authority. Defining clear roles and responsibilities is a form of setting boundaries. It defines the amount and kind of control your team has over their work which empowers their performance.

These boundaries create guardrails around information flow, appropriate levels of involvement, and, ultimately, accountability.  Boundaries are a question of ownership.

Micromanagement is a form of crossing a boundary. Sure, jump in with guidance or advice. Answer questions or provide relevant information that they may not have access to and then step back. If you insert yourself too much, you stifle the growth of your team members and, therefore, the growth of your business.

Remember….

Good fences make good neighbors – Robert Frost

Struggling to set healthy boundaries? Letting them slide a bit too often? Setup a 30-min, no commitment, strategy call.