The Syrup - setting boundaries

 I’ve been reflecting a lot lately about the most recent 4th Quarter.  I’ve talked to countless colleagues from around the country who are at their wit’s end with, let’s call it for what it is: abusive clients, ill-mannered employees of clients, overworked staff, and personal exhaustion.  In our office, we did a postmortem earlier this month and vowed that “we aren’t doing things that way EVER again.” But the thing is, we didn’t change anything from years prior – the change came from the people and personalities of those we encountered.  This is making us take a step back and figure out which systems, policies and procedures we can put in place so we don’t have a repeat in 2024.  

But one word keeps coming up:  boundaries.

Now, I know many of us pride ourselves on our lightning-fast response time, but the expectations of instant gratification in all aspects of our life seems to be reaching a whole new level.  I can’t tell you how many times our office gets an email after 8pm from someone, only to have them “follow up” again by 7 the next morning.  If the tables were turned, do you think they would want one of their clients treating them this way? 

I began taking only scheduled phone calls about 10 years ago, which was really hard to do in the beginning. But man, this was one of the best decisions I ever made for myself in business.  I found that if I was working on a project for a client, and then I answered the phone, it would shift my attention from what I was doing. I would then have to take the time to help or delegate and then shift my brain back to the project I was working on.  It was incredibly inefficient.  

I have other colleagues who only check their emails twice a day and block out their calendars so their office knows exactly when that will take place — and clients also come to know that routine eventually.  I’ve never been one to do that, but I block my calendar like nobody’s business, and stick to it about 90% of the time. My office knows which blocks can be shifted if a call or meeting needs to be scheduled, but they also know not to delete any blocks.  

I also think it’s interesting that different parts of the country have different expectations.  We are in NYC, where everything was needed yesterday. And for the most part, we seem to always have this magic wand to make that happen. But heading into 2024, we are going to start being harder on deadlines and what is expected from our clients, because our office is the one who suffers with the extra hours and extra stress while our clients carry on during the holidays footloose and fancy free.  

I saw a sign this morning that said, “Sure, let me drop everything to fix the problem you caused.” And it honestly made me laugh out loud, because if you are in this industry, you know how true that can be.  You can educate, you can explain, but people want what they want when they want it, and they want you to make it happen at all costs.  I still laugh when I remember a client firing me and threatening to sue me because I wouldn’t put his unborn child on the health insurance before the birth.  Yeah, he really didn’t have boundaries….

So, what are your plans for 2024?  Are you making some shifts in your office?  Are you adding new staffing roles?  Working with new vendors?  I’d love to hear what’s going to set you up for a successful 2024!