Remaining Resilient, Part 1: How to Set Boundaries and Maintain Job Performance - Career Success Tips
The American economy has certainly seen a lot of changes in the past few years, and the end of 2022 has brought with it another huge round of layoffs in multiple sectors, including nearly 120,000 recent job losses in technology alone. No one in the workforce is unaffected by losses of this magnitude; those who have retained their jobs, those who have lost them, and those responsible for keeping a company going are all making adjustments.
In the next few weeks, the Bespoken blog will be dedicated to helping team members and managers alike navigate the changing tides.
Those who have avoided a layoff and remain at work may be experiencing a change in workload or even a change in job description as co-workers are let go.
Here are a few tips on how remaining team members can set boundaries with managers and keep efficient communication going with the rest of the team.
It’s All About Priorities
As hard as many of us work and as much as we want to band together in tough times, there are only so many hours in a day. At a certain point, a task or a project is going to have to be adjusted, delayed, or compromised due to bandwidth. If a manager adds a new project to your plate, the most important response is to ask where this new project needs to fall on your existing list of priorities. Businesses are used to a rhythm of offers and counter-offers and it’s perfectly reasonable for a team member to present a counter-offer in terms of their time and energy: “I can do X, but that means I won’t have time for Y. Is that acceptable, or would you prefer that Y remain the top priority right now?”
It may be tempting just to say “yes” to anything a manager asks you to do, but don’t worry too much about the optics of counter-offers; communicating your priorities and status of each of your tasks or projects lets your manager know that you are actively handling each one of them and that you intend to give each one the focus it deserves in the order that is needed.
Communicate with Your Co-Workers
You and your co-workers may have some resentment over being asked to accommodate changes around the office, and that’s OK. Resentment can be a normal part of change, especially if the change happens because of decisions you had no hand in making. Recognize that this may be the case for a little while, but do your best to keep the conversations with others focused on how you can help each other.
When workloads or job descriptions evolve, there can sometimes be a competitive mindset among team members; however, sizing each other up, comparing each others’ work ethics, or assuming someone else has a lighter workload than your own can make the resentment much worse. Remember, you’re in the same boat, and the most important thing team members can do for each other is establish a sense of trust. Address the change, listen to each other’s perspectives, divide new responsibilities in a way you can agree on, and support each other as best you can.
Recognize the Power You Have
Layoffs will always make us feel a certain sense of powerlessness, especially if we didn’t have a voice in decisions regarding the restructuring of our own departments. When we’re in that space, it can be intimidating to express our own needs, especially when the company is hurting and we worry about becoming an added burden. It takes a certain amount of emotional intelligence to assess your position in the changing company and use your voice for good. This can be challenging, but it is absolutely worth the effort.
If speaking up is pushing the edges of your comfort zone, Bespoken can provide a safe space and an outside eye with private coaching sessions to help build confidence and sharpen the communication skills you need to craft healthy and meaningful professional relationships.
Remember that speaking up is a good thing, even in the eyes of your manager. At the end of the day, having your needs met is what allows you to do your best work, and that is what your company ultimately wants. Managers need accountable, communicative employees who are aware of their own workloads and limitations.
Jackie launched Bespoken in 2015 to channel years of professional performance experience into techniques that improve public speaking, presenting, and professional communication skills. Working with many clients from Fortune 500s to small nonprofits has shown Jackie that regardless of one's age or profession, the desire to speak with purpose is a universal one - and one she's proud to help many different people achieve. She holds a B.F.A. and M.A. both from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
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