Table of Contents, Communication Secrets

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Maintaining Personal Boundaries

In our chapter vignette, Bill does a good job of building an e-community, but he ultimately goes too far. E-communications is a Janus-faced proposition. (Janus, you will recall from Roman mythology, was a god with two faces.) On the upside, email permits the boss and her or his team to exchange ideas at any time of the day or night. On the downside, all this emailing back and forth can erode personal time.

While it is true that for many the boundaries between work and home are blurred, the leader needs to respect the personal lives of her or his followers. A relentless flurry of email from the leader can set up the expectation that employees must do the same. The leader not only has to set limits on his or her own messaging habits, but also must make it clear that followers do not need to emulate them. In other words, just because a leader does email at two in the morning does not mean followers need to do so. Unless the leader is explicit in setting limits, employees will naturally assume that he or she expects people to be monitoring their email in the wee hours. For example, the leader can say, "I do my email in off-hours because it is my choice to do so, but I do not expect you to be waiting around for my messages. Nor do I expect you to work at those hours unless you want to." In this way, the leader sets limits and maintains a differentiation between work time and personal time.

Note

According to a survey by Pew Internet and American Life Project, 98 percent of people who have access to the Internet at work use it. They find email essential to their jobs, enabling them to accomplish their work. Most of them find email effective for conducting fact-based business, but less effective for "heart-to-heart" discussions. Many see email as "encouraging communications." Surprisingly, while anecdotal evidence shows that people feel overwhelmed by the amount of email they get, most users find it "manageable." Some 20 percent of emailers, however, fall into the "power email category," half of whom receive more than 20 emails daily, and a quarter of whom receive upwards of 50 per day. All in all, this study confirms what many employees already know: Email has become an integral part of the workplace.^[4]

Leaders can enable the building of a virtual community where key stakeholders can congregate to share information and learn from others.

Email is a terrific way to stay abreast of events and to provide ongoing coaching. Think of someone in your organization whom you regularly coach. Face-to-face communications is paramount, but you can use email to:
- Clarify points raised in a coaching session.
- Provide feedback on specific points.
- Deliver ongoing e-coaching that is specific, able to be acted upon, and timely. (Remember, always open on a positive note.)
Establish a web site that can serve as a leadership resource. Consider providing the following materials:
- Leadership programs: Descriptions of programs available within your organization.
- Leadership evaluation tools: Career development tools and self-assessments.
- Best practices: Descriptions of effective leadership within your organization. (Be certain to include examples of personal leadership from people who are not yet in leadership positions.)
- Heroes of the workplace: Stories of men and women who have made a positive difference in the organization. Write them up as short features.
- Leaders' exchange: A virtual gathering place where people can share ideas about leadership.
Create a work/life discussion about how virtual technology should be used. Operate from the principle that e-technology should be an enabler, not a disabler, i.e., focus on how technology can work for you, not against you. Begin with a team meeting where people discuss how to use technology to their advantage. Outline some parameters for email and virtual collaboration. Continue the discussion on your web site.

^[4]Deborah Fallows, "Email at Work: Few Feel Overwhelmed and Most Are Pleased with the Way Email Helps Them Do Their Jobs," Pew Internet & American Life Project, Dec. 8, 2002.