Psychotherapist Esther Perel discusses how people can have
fruitful professional relationships while also having a healthy personal life
outside of work to maintain well-being.
What Are Professional Boundaries?
Professional boundaries are the codes of workplace ethics
that coworkers follow to keep professional development and personal issues
separate. Workplace boundaries can include emotional, time, physical, and mental
boundaries. Healthy boundaries allow you to succeed at work and keep
professional relationships while maintaining a healthy personal life with
family members, friends, and partners. A power imbalance can frequently erode
professional boundaries and have an impact on work performance, mental health,
and workplace and personal relationships.
Examples of Professional Boundary Violations
There are several warning signs of workplace boundary
violations. Inappropriate physical contact, favoritism, and questioning that
crosses personal boundaries are all examples of code of conduct violations. In
these cases, you can go to human resources or a trusted colleague and discuss
your boundary crossing experience so that you can log a record.
Boundary issues can arise between offices as well as between
providers and customers. Healthcare workers, for example, have such dual
relationships: If a doctor or caregiver-patient relationship makes the patient
feel uneasy, they may be reluctant to seek care in the future. Nonetheless, it
is possible and simple to maintain professionalism in the workplace while
ensuring that everyone has a positive experience. Working relationships can be
made healthier and more comfortable by limiting conversation to work-related
topics, avoiding unwanted physical contact, and listening to others' concerns
openly.
5 Tips on Professional Boundaries
1. Respect the boundaries of others. People may have
different boundaries even within the same office, so accepting them is
critical.
2. Boundaries can help you refocus. The transition from 'I'
to 'us' is one of the most significant boundary shifts as people become more
involved with one another. What belongs to me and what belongs to us? When you
get closer to your coworkers, this can become dynamic and complex. Boundary
questions, according to Esther Perel, include: "What do I owe to tell you?
"What can I keep private and personal to myself?"
3. Frame your boundaries as a container. A boundary is
a container that lets you know what stays inside, what belongs here, and what
is kept inside in terms of content, material, feelings, information, secrets,
and whatever else you can think of. Decide what goes in your container and use
it as a guidepost for how you act and what you share at work.
4. The times have changed, and your ethos may now be
incorporated into your work. Workplaces should be aware of how political and
global events affect their employees.
5. Pay attention to how higher-ups handle boundaries. How
superiors respect or disregard boundaries reveals a lot about the constraints
of a work environment. Companies must also clearly define roles in order to
establish boundaries.
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