Set Boundaries!

Nicole Atchley

Leaders have to set boundaries for themselves. When placed into a supervisory position there is a balance of care that comes with the territory. You have to decide how much you are going to care about your subordinates without crossing the lines of unprofessionalism. Or crossing lines that can be detrimental to the organization. Each person you supervise is a real person with a real life. They are not just another employee id number and position. You should take an invested interest in your direct reports, knowing if they are married; have kids or have kids on the way. The information you should want to know will be surface level at best, but its important in establishing a relationship that shows that you understand there is life outside of work. It show that you understand that everyone is battling the work/life balance.

But boundaries are important, you should not go digging into your employees personal life. You definitely shouldn’t do so for the purpose of using the information against the employee. These are not your friends or your enemies but essentially coworkers that happen to fall under you. The work/ life balance is for the individual to figure out, not for you the supervisor to use negatively. What do I mean? 

Story

I was in charge of 2 teams with a supervisor over each team. One of my direct report supervisors, took some information regarding a member of the other team and decided to dive deeper into the situation. This supervisor took privileged information and began to threaten the employees other jobs and livelihood, in the name of helping him. My direct report did not understand the legal ramifications behind his actions. He did not understand that he had no business talking to this employees, had no business diving deeper into his personal life and no business threatening legal action against him all in the name of helping. 

Some things are just not our business. We as leaders have to set boundaries that give balance to how we deal with our people. I have taken great pride in trying to know my staff, both in an out of the military. I take a vested interest in knowing just enough about those that I serve. Showing them a level of care about them as a person that it brings in the human factor to my leadership style. What I do not do, is mix the personal with the job I need done. Example, I may know that an employee has childcare issues. This childcare issue may get them one excused lateness or absence but it definitely won’t be used as a weekly or daily excuse.  At the end of the day that person is getting paid to do a job and while I understand the situation and can take it into account from time to time, they are still getting paid to do a job. It is my job to work in the best interest of the organization, while taking outside factors into account. 

Some things are just not our business

Nicole Atchley