November 1, 2024 • 34 mins
Ever wondered why setting boundaries at work can make or break your company culture? Join me, Tammy Hershberger, as I untangle the intricacies of creating a respectful and efficient workplace. Drawing from my experiences as a small business owner, I’ll walk you through the essential strategies that can transform how you manage your team and how they interact with you. From mastering the art of clear expectations to respecting personal time and space, this episode promises to be a game-changer for both employees and employers.
Imagine a workspace where interruptions are minimal, personal space is respected, and everyone feels valued and motivated. In this episode, we explore practical tips like implementing a "shut door policy" for focused work and advocating for mental and physical boundaries to ensure a safe and productive environment. We’ll also delve into the pitfalls of micromanagement and how to avoid it through effective delegation, trust, and communication. Learn how to build a thriving work environment that not only boosts morale but also enhances overall productivity.
Creating a balanced work-life dynamic is paramount, and this episode emphasizes the importance of respecting employees' personal time and boundaries. We discuss the significance of handling personal issues professionally, shutting down workplace gossip, and the necessity of recharging through time off. By promoting a drama-free culture and recognizing the value of employees' "no," we can prevent burnout and foster a supportive work environment. Tune in for invaluable insights on creating a respectful, healthy, and productive workplace where everyone can truly flourish.
Say goodbye to overwhelm and self-doubt, and hello to confidence and success. Join the Faith Filled Coaching family today and step into the abundant future you've always envisioned.
Visit FaithFilledCoach.com to schedule your free 30-minute consultation. Let's make your business dreams a reality, together.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Light Up your Business podcast, the
show where we dive deep into theworld of small businesses.
I'm your host, tammyHershberger, and each episode
will bring you inspiring stories, expert insights and practical
tips to help your small businessthrive.
Whether you're an entrepreneurjust starting out or a seasoned
business owner, this podcast isyour go-to source for success in
(00:21):
the small business world.
Let's get started to source forsuccess in the small business
world.
Let's get started.
Hi everyone, I am back withanother episode of Light Up your
Business podcast.
I'm excited to say that I'm inmy new podcast studio, which I'm
super excited about, and todayI want to talk to you guys about
a balancing act, setting andrespecting boundaries with your
(00:42):
employees.
So in this episode, we're goingto explore the importance of
establishing and maintainingboundaries in the
employee-employer relationship,from defining expectations to
respecting personal space andtime.
Join me as we navigate thedelicate balance between
fostering a positive workenvironment and respecting
individual boundaries.
(01:02):
We're going to draw from expertinsights, real-life scenarios
and practical strategies, andthis episode will offer
exceptional tips for bothemployees and employers to
navigate boundaries withprofessionalism and respect.
So let's talk about this.
(01:23):
Boundaries within a business aremore important than ever before
today, because there's aculture of hustle.
Everybody's moving, everybody'sgoing 100 miles a minute right,
and, at the end of the day,culture is what keeps your
company growing.
It keeps your company great,and I think it's what makes
people want to be a part of yourbusiness.
They want to work for someonethat has great culture, want to
(01:45):
be a part of your business.
They want to work for someonethat has great culture as a
business or a leader within yourbusiness.
It's important to remember andto establish boundaries within
your company and with youremployees.
Otherwise, your kindness couldbe taken advantage of, which can
lead to resentment.
It's much easier to setexpectations and boundaries from
the very beginning rather thantrying to change things midway
through, and, as a leader, it'sjust as important to honor your
(02:11):
employees' boundaries within theworkplace.
So I want to dive into that alittle bit before I continue.
So I know I've talked about thisa little bit in the past, but
me being a business owner,there's always this weird fine
line of like these people workfor me and they're my employees,
they're my team members,they're my family, and I've
heard it on both sides of theaisle.
Like you don't become friendswith your employees.
You don't become family withyour employees and I do
(02:32):
understand that and I understandin a corporate environment or a
very large company, you knowthat is hard to do because as
the owner of something like that, you cannot talk to everybody,
you can't have lunch witheverybody, you can't, you know,
mingle with everybody.
But I would hope in those bigcompanies that you have some
kind of system where yourmanagers, you know that are over
their departments, do some kindof that, like they implement
(02:54):
something to bring their teamstogether.
As you all know who listened tome, you know I own multiple
companies, but they're not hugecompanies.
They're not, you know, hundredsof employees.
So the barnyard I think rightnow currently has, let's see one
, two, three, four, five, six inthe back I mean I head up to
eight at one time eight or nine.
(03:14):
We've shrunk a little bit thislast year just with turnover and
people, you know, startingtheir own businesses and things
that they wanted to do.
So we have a smaller group andI think because of that my
situation is more like mostsmall businesses.
So if you have a small businessthat size, you can kind of
relate to me.
For me it's not about keepingemployees away from me as a
(03:39):
friend and as a family memberper se.
I know it's kind of cliche tosay that, but for me it's really
about making sure that they'retaken care of, making sure
they're happy, and I feel likeif I take good care of them, I
treat them like family, meaningwe have respect for each other.
We, we listen to each other, wedon't override each other.
Now I'm the boss and if I havea decision, you know I'll listen
(04:02):
to the feedback and sometimesthey may change my decision, but
most likely it's going tohappen.
You know I'm not just sayingthat your employees make the
rules, um, but I do take intoaccount what my employees have
to say, especially being assmall as we are.
You know I don't know everything, they don't know everything, um
, john doesn't know everything,and so I take into consideration
because they all have differentexperiences, different um past,
(04:23):
different jobs they've done.
They work for different kindsof bosses some big companies,
some small companies and so whenI say family to me, I mean that
in the respect that I'm goingto watch out for them, I'm going
to make sure if I see somethingoff, I'm going to say something
to them.
If I see they're struggling.
I'm going to say something.
You know they may notparticipate back, but I'm sure
(04:44):
going to try to make sure theyknow I see you, I care about you
and I'm going to watch out foryou.
And the same thing goes, youknow, in the work environment.
I'm going to watch you at yourjob.
I'm going to realize, like, areyou getting bored?
Are you struggling?
Do you not like the positionyou're in?
Are you at the point where youneed to grow into something else
?
I just had that with my salesman.
Had left and went and startedhis own business and I was
(05:07):
looking at hiring anothersalesman.
And then I we me and John kindof had a conversation with
another person that works for usand he had decided that he is
next.
I mean, he's an excellentbuilder, but he had used to own
his own company and he hasambitions to do more.
And so I'm not going to stiflehim by saying sorry, you have to
be a builder, even though Istill need builders, I could
(05:29):
actually use another one rightnow.
I'm going to move that guy intoa position that he's excited
about.
I'm going to move him into aposition that he likes.
He likes sales, he enjoys thecomputer side.
He enjoys growing the businessand so to keep that employee
engaged, I'm going to keep himinvested in my business.
I watch him light up when hegets to do this stuff and he's
(05:52):
willing to do kind of a hybridmodel where, because I'm short a
builder when there's not a lotof sales happening, he jumps
back in as a builder, which youknow is huge for me because it
saves me payroll for two people.
You know I have to kind of makeit work, but I really enjoy the
fact that he's willing to dothat and he's so excited about
it and that's going to keep himlong term right.
So that's the kind of thingwe're talking about here now.
There are boundaries and we'regoing to talk about those.
(06:13):
There are things you have toset in place so that you don't
get overrun, that your employeesthat are not good employees
don't take advantage of you.
You know, having friends inbusiness is hard because when
they work for you sometimes theyare like not my boss isn't
yelling at me, my friend'syelling at me, or my friend is
disappointed in me, not so muchmy boss, and there's kind of a
(06:33):
weird line you get and I can saymyself because I care about my
people and I treat them so well.
I even personally havesometimes a hard time, like you
know, something's got to bediscussed or corrected and there
is moments where, even though Iface it, it's hard because I'm
like, damn, I don't want to yellat, you know, katie or whatever
(06:53):
, whoever it is, I don't want tohave to get hard on her because
I really like her and she is myfriend.
But you know, that's where youhave to be a little bit careful
about that so you don't get aweird relationship going where
they think they don't have tolisten or they think they're
going to get favor becausethey're your friend or because
they're family or whatever it is.
So today we're going to discussmore the boundary side.
(07:14):
There's different types ofboundaries within a workplace,
how you can create healthyboundaries with your employees
and how you can navigate whenboundaries are crossed.
So boundaries allow you to leadand run your business in a
healthy way.
So let's talk about boundaries,let's understand them.
There are several differenttypes of boundaries within the
workplace.
There's emotional boundaries,which are when you can
(07:34):
communicate preferences and leadwith compassion and kindness.
It is being able to share howyou feel while respecting
others' needs as well.
You know it's okay to be like.
You know, emotionally Susie isstruggling.
You know emotionally she reactsdifferent to feedback and
remember that every person isdifferent.
So you know you have to learnto kind of be a leader and
(07:56):
figure out what strategy, whatplan is going to work for Jimmy
versus Tom right, becausethey're different people, or
Susie versus Katie.
Then there's time boundaries.
So you need to create thoseboundaries around your time by
stating when you're availableand when you are not, and
honoring those for yourself andyour employees.
So this is another good example.
I literally I won't say names,but I did have a conversation
(08:17):
with some people that I knowthat are business owners
recently and they were talkingabout how their training but
also their person that doestheir ordering and things for
them like a project manager isnot respecting their time and
they're constantly interruptingand asking questions.
Now there's twofold here.
One, maybe the person is nottrained well enough and they're
very uncomfortable, which meansthat the person that is their
(08:39):
boss needs to train them more.
That could be a differentsituation needs to train them
more.
That could be a differentsituation.
But if they're just at a pointwhere they are trained, they
know what to do and they justthey're scared to step out and
do their job or they're notcapable of doing their job and
they're going to have to keepinterrupting you.
Well, that is going to killyour time as the boss or as the
manager or whatever, and so theycan't be constantly
interrupting you and they haveto know that there is times they
(09:01):
can come talk to you.
There is times for that.
Now, like in my company, I havea shut door policy.
I have a door that literallylocks when you shut it and you
know it's fire safe.
So you can get out by justgoing from the inside out, but
the outside can't get in.
No-transcript.
(09:30):
If a guy wants to give us amillion dollar check and they
don't know how to run thetransaction, come find me.
But other than that they, Itrust my team, I've trained them
well.
I know that they know whatthey're doing and so you know if
it's something that can hold,hold it it, and when my door is
open, or if every day or everyweek there's a time to come ask
me these questions, then great,we can do that.
(09:50):
Now I understand there is timeswhen things have to be answered
If you don't have a system inplace for that, then you need to
figure out a system, becausethere is moments where things
need to be answered.
Sometimes, though, things canbe stacked up, so that's
something you have to decidewith yourself and your team of
how that's going to look andwhat that looks like as far as
(10:11):
to implement that strategy.
Let's talk about physicalboundaries.
So this means you establish asafe work environment that is
devoid of harassment and wherepeople have their own designated
space, which is respected.
Oh, I want to go back to timefor a minute.
Time is another thing.
If you, as the boss, areconstantly interrupting people
while they're trying to work,and just because you think your
stuff's more important, well,just remember that's a two-way
(10:33):
street.
So if your employees aregetting interrupted by you all
the time, you're killing theirtime.
You're going to shorten them ontheir projects.
They're not going to have thesales calls times they need,
whatever, so keep that in mind.
Back to the physical boundaries.
This is something I don't messwith.
So we all have our own space.
We're male and female.
I won't put up with sexualharassment.
I won't put up with bullying.
(10:54):
I won't put up with anythingthat's going to hurt someone
else.
Now my team.
We have fun and we're mostlyguys and we can joke around and
that's all good and fun, um, butthey very much are like family
and brothers.
So they, you know they do thatand they know their boundaries.
Now, for one second I hadanyone come to me and said Joe
said this and it bothers me.
You can bet I will have Joe'sback or the person's back that
(11:15):
came to me and I'm going to gohave a conversation with Joe and
we're going to let him know.
You can't do that.
This is America.
I am not a foo-foo me toomovement person.
I am.
If it's a legitimate thing andit applies to what we're talking
about, you know, sexualharassment, physical harassment,
bullying, threatening I'm goingto give you a chance to correct
it and if you do not correct ityou will find yourself a new
(11:37):
job.
I am not putting up with that.
I'm not risking my company foryou.
You know there's a lot of grayarea, I'm sure, in some of this,
and if someone is just pickyabout every little detail and
they whine about everything,then maybe they're not the right
person for your company.
But if it's a legitimateconcern, you, especially as the
owner or the leader need toaddress it ASAP so your people
(11:58):
feel safe and they know thatthey're going to be protected in
the environment you have putthem in.
If you do not do that, youshould lose your company and you
should not be in business.
Next thing mental boundaries.
Those are when you create spaceaway from work, like providing
paid time off to your employees,being able to take space when
moving through challenging times.
It can be important for youremployees and for you as a
(12:20):
leader.
I know I've talked a ton aboutthis, about me myself, the
things that I've gone through,but just remember your employees
do not need to work 24 hours aday, seven days a week, 365 days
a year.
They need time with their life,their family, their wife, their
kids.
They need time to you know,find who they are like, get
mental clarity on the thingsthey're facing.
Sickness comes to people andthey have to deal with that.
(12:42):
If you are a good owner and agood leader, you will notice
these times and you will makesure your people take those
times.
That is one thing I can sayabout the people that work for
me.
When I see they're struggling,I let them know.
Do you need to go home earlytoday.
Do you need time off, are youokay?
You know?
Do you need to take anappointment with a therapist or
whatever?
Let's figure it out, becauseI'd rather them, if they're good
(13:05):
worker, figure that out andstick with me long-term than
struggle and quit because theycan't handle it.
Also, I notice the people thatdo work for me.
It seems on the surface and I,you know, know them personally
when their lives are good, whentheir wife is happy, when their
children are happy and healthyand life is good, they are going
(13:25):
to work so good and hard foryou.
They're going to be the bestemployees you have and I admire
some of my employees.
They have families and they'rewise and they're happy and
they're good husbands andthey're good men and they're
good dads and and I watch theirchildren they're so happy and
you know I don't have a familyand so I look at that and I
admire and I envy that and I'mso thankful that I have men that
work for me, that are men.
They know how to lead theirfamilies, they know how to take
(13:47):
care of their families and Ihave, you know, a female that
works for me.
She doesn't have a family yet,but she's an amazing woman and
I'm proud of her and I look ather and I think, man, she's
doing everything she can to be agood human being and she's
caring about her family and sheloves her nieces and nephews and
I love having people like thatwork for me.
I love having people like thatin my life, and so that's an
(14:08):
environment that I create tomake sure I can foster their
growth.
Okay so then let's see Settingboundaries and establishing
clear expectations.
So this came from an articlefrom masterclasscom, which is
Dave Ramsey, and so thisinformation says setting clear
boundaries and expectations willhelp create the container for a
(14:29):
thriving work environment.
You set boundaries with youremployees by one ensuring they
know and understand their jobdescription.
This allows everyone to feelclear about what
responsibilities they carry, aswell as determine if workloads
are fairly distributed.
Okay so, job description.
I actually was just inMinnesota recently talking to a
cousin of ours and we weretalking about owning businesses
(14:51):
and the struggles, and there isthings out there where people
don't like when you hire someone, you don't have a hiring packet
, or you don't have onboardingprocedures and you don't even
know what your job descriptionsare, or you've never taken the
time to do it, you're making amistake because you need to know
every company is different.
Now, if there's a general ideaof you know a project manager,
office manager, whatever, buteverybody has their own policies
(15:11):
, procedures, software plans ofhow they do things.
So you need to take time tocreate job descriptions for your
salesman, for your officemanager, for the delivery driver
, for your builders, for yourforemans, for your managers,
whoever you have working for you.
Create those job descriptionsso when you hire, or if you're
just already got the people andyou now have to create them, you
(15:32):
can go over with them and ifthere is any bleed through, or
you know something that, like,joey is the cutter and he is,
you know, putting away lumberand he's building sheds and he's
roofing and you have a separateroofer, maybe you should not
have the cutter doing theroofing, maybe that's a bleed
over and you need to take thatout and say no, that would be
(15:54):
better suited for the roofer.
Or if you're in the office,sometimes you know we start
small and we create a positionand they're doing 50 million
things and then you hire anotherperson, then you realize, like,
the office manager maybedoesn't have to update the
inventory of the sheds anymore,or maybe they don't need to
maintain the sheet because maybeit makes more sense that the
salesman do that.
And so that's a great time torealize if there's things that
(16:16):
someone else is doing that youcan now give to someone else, or
maybe it's more efficient forsomeone else to do it.
Communicate it is crucial tocommunicate before the bad
habits start and set in, becausethe work environment will start
to feel negative and it willimpact employees mental,
(16:38):
physical and emotionalwell-being.
So if you notice I don't knowJoey is not doing his job
description and he's doingthings he's not supposed to be
doing, or there's problems withKimmy and Timmy I like my names.
Anyway, you need to communicatewith your people.
(16:58):
I am still.
That's the hill I'm going todie on, I swear.
I deal with bookkeeping, I dealwith a phone company, I do
phones for another company, Ihave my own company and there is
moments in all of that, withall the different companies I
deal with, there is thecommunication sucks and I'm
telling, telling you, I freakinghate when communication sucks.
It doesn't work because you'renot telling me what's happening
with x, y and z and then b and cover here is a disaster,
(17:21):
because they're not talking andyou know, something gets ordered
wrong or gets ordered twice orI don't know, a job gets missed
or whatever happens, becausecommunication is not happening.
This country thrives oncommunication.
Now there's people that areunder communicators.
There's people like me that areover communicators.
We have to come in the middle.
I can maybe not communicate asmuch I don't.
(17:42):
I don't exactly know what thatlooks like.
Maybe just try to make mysentences less long.
I don't know.
There's under communicators whoneed to like freaking talk.
They need to communicate and soit's super important you let
that know in your company thatthis needs to be happening, and
if it's not happening, youaddress it.
Number three establish aboundary around personal and
professional life.
To maintain healthy workrelationships, it can be helpful
(18:04):
to notice how much of yourpersonal life you are bringing
to work with you.
So deciding on how much of yourpersonal life you bring to work
can help cultivate a healthypersonal and professional
balance.
So this goes twofold as theowner, you don't want to bring
in that your husband's cheatingon you or you're having issues
with your neighbor or whatever,because this stuff is taking up
(18:27):
your employee's time.
If you're telling them aboutthis, you're wasting your
employee's time.
You're wasting your time.
You're bringing drama into theworkforce that you do not need.
You don't want them distractedwith this stuff.
Also, if Timmy and Tammy aretalking and they're having
conflict or you know they arecomplaining about their spouse
or what happened yesterday,again they are not wasting your
company time.
There's two of them doing it,so it's twice the time waste and
(18:49):
you're bringing drama and youdon't want.
You want a drama-freeenvironment so people can foster
the culture that you'reproviding.
They can foster theircreativity and their mental
energy on the things that youare paying them to do.
If you hear people gossiping,shut it down.
You don't want that in yourcompany.
You don't want people thinkingthat other people are gossiping
about each other.
It's not a good look.
(19:10):
Get rid of it.
Four time off means time off.
Taking designated time off isimportant to disconnect from
work.
So you need to log off yourplatforms, turn off your email
notifications, allow yourselfspace to relax and recharge,
promoting a culture of work-lifebalance by respecting
employees' time off and personalcommitments.
So what that means as the owner, the leader if Jojo takes the
(19:34):
day off, I mean I would doeverything I possibly can to
respect that and not call them.
I wouldn't be calling themasking about where's this,
where's that, what's the priceof that, what's that?
You know I tell my, theemployees that I have, like I am
leaving.
I trust you're going to handleit.
If there's something major,call me.
Otherwise I trust you to handleit and they're very, very good
about that.
(19:54):
It's very rare we get a calland you know we're okay with
that.
But you know your employees arenot the owners.
They need time with theirfamily, they need time to take
care of themselves, they needweekends off to recharge and
they'll come back stronger forit.
Five respecting people's no.
We want an employee to be ableto tell us if they don't feel
comfortable doing something orif they already have too much on
their plate.
(20:14):
Communicating this is vital toprevent burnout and maintain a
work-life balance.
Now, if they tell you no oneverything, it's probably not
the person that you have orshould have in the job position.
But I do respect when someonesays to me you know I don't know
how to do that.
I can still do it if you'd like, but I don't know how.
Okay, then I can maybe look atfinding someone else.
If they're not comfortable,safety wise.
(20:35):
I need to know that so theydon't get hurt.
If they feel like they're sooverburdened, then I need to
know that, because I'm eitherputting too much on their plate,
I have job bleed happeningright where stuff's getting
overlapped into other people's.
Maybe I can separate thatsomehow, maybe it's something I
can help with to get thepressure off of them.
So those are just some thingsto think about.
(20:56):
Now, talking about respectingpersonal space, you want to
avoid micromanagement and allowemployees autonomy in their work
.
I have literally seen this Iwon't say names, but I know
someone that for certain peoplethey will do anything.
This person tells them They'llsuck it up, no matter what
personal, professional, whatever.
(21:17):
Then they come into life andthey're miserable because they
don't get to do what they want.
They're not doing the job theywant, they're not dating the
person they want, whatever.
And so it's like you'remiserable because they have no
autonomy.
And then they do drugs, they dothings they're not supposed to
do, they fight against thesystem, they won't follow the
business rules.
I mean, there's just so muchstuff that goes wrong in that
(21:44):
and so you want to make sureyou're not micromanaging them.
There has been a survey donethat says that 59% of employees
have said that they've workedfor a micromanager, which means
someone that's on their butt,don't trust them, got to
micromanage every little detailand instead of it's like me, I
say here's this Do you know whatI'm saying?
Do you understand?
Yes, go do it and don't comeback to me until it's done.
Some people will stand overthem.
Is it done?
Did you do this right?
Can I see this Like?
They don't trust them, andtrust will not work if you don't
(22:05):
have it.
You have to have trust withyour employees or they're not
going to trust you.
They're not going to be happyworking for you.
So in this same study, it saidthat 68% reported a decrease in
morale.
You don't want the morale ofyour company to die, because
that will kill your company.
It means your people aren'thappy, while 55% claimed it hurt
their productivity.
(22:26):
If they're not producing well,then you need to figure out
what's happening right, andmaybe it's because you're the
problem.
So two negative side effectscan lead to a larger problem,
which is then employee turnover.
And I am telling you today it isharder than ever to find people
that are good and that you canafford to pay with these crazy.
You know McDonald's salaries,that someplace or not.
(22:48):
Salaries pay of like 18 to $30an hour.
It's insane.
I'm not even going to get intoall that, because food prices go
up, everything goes up, andthen it doesn't really help you.
But it is not an easy time tofind good workers and a lot of
good workers are going on theirown and starting their own
business, which is great.
It's not great for me trying tofind an employee.
But you do not want tomicromanage people.
(23:09):
Trust your people or get rid ofthem and find the right people.
Okay.
So in an article by HarvardBusiness School online, it says
that there's five ways you canavoid micromanaging.
Ready for this.
Number one practice delegatingFigure.
Avoid micromanaging.
Ready for this Number onepractice delegating Figure.
Out who can do it and give itto them and trust them.
Two set clear expectations.
Tell the people what I expect.
(23:30):
So if I expect you here at 2 pmand the job better be done by 3
pm and you're going to take thetrash out while you're doing
your job and your desk is goingto be clean at the end of the
day, well, you better frigging,believe it.
When it comes 3 pm, I'm goingto look at those expectations
and if they miss them, I canclearly say to Jimmy Jimmy, it's
three o'clock, your job's notdone, the trash isn't taken out,
(23:51):
your desk is a disaster.
What happened?
Right, because you set clearexpectations.
It's the same thing inrelationships.
If you say I need you to talkto me, I need you to explain the
problems to me In a marriage.
If I say I need you to notcheat on me and I need you to
not destroy my home, whatever,then that's simple expectations
(24:12):
and everybody understands it.
Number four, which is very hardfor me.
Or number three sorry, let goof perfectionism.
I don't know that I do thatwith everybody else Maybe do,
but I certainly do it withmyself.
Remember, everybody's got theirown problems, their own issues,
their own things they're goodat, not good at, and so
expectations or perfectionism,sorry, can become a major
(24:33):
problem in a relationship inyour business.
Now I'm saying it's okay to bean A player, it's okay to expect
your people to do a good job,but if you're expecting
perfection, you're not going toget it.
Four hire the right people.
I know someone right now thathas hired the wrong person.
(24:55):
Their attitude sucks, they makemistakes a lot and they're
scared now to get rid of thembecause they feel like it's
going to be worse by getting ridof them, and, of course, this
is their decision to make.
I have noticed in my path, inmy businesses, my career, there
is a saying that says slow tofire or, I'm sorry, slow to hire
, quick to fire, and I will notwaste my time with you If you
(25:16):
aren't getting it.
And you're not getting itwithin the 90-day trial I have
for you, you're really not goingto get it, because if you have
a crappy attitude in the 90 days, when you're usually at your
best, it's going to get freakingworse and I don't want to deal
with it.
And so, hire the right people,get them on the bus, figure the
right seats out for them andthen solicit feedback.
Talk to your team, talk to thepeople.
Are they getting micromanaged?
(25:37):
Do they feel micromanaged?
Is there any issues?
Is there things you can change?
Communication is the key.
So when you avoid micromanagingyour employees, it will
cultivate a healthy workenvironment that breeds trust,
an environment that employeeswill thrive in rather than want
to leave.
Okay, number I think it's numbersix handle sensitive topics.
(25:58):
Employees that are goingthrough difficult life
circumstances still need to meettheir work expectations.
Sadly, that is still the truth.
However, employees can besupportive and understanding
while enforcing performance andconduct standards at work.
So have one-on-one meetingswith your employees going
through difficult or personaldifficulties and they can.
They feel like you're caringabout them and it can be helpful
(26:21):
for them to let some things out.
That way, you can learn how tobest support them, which might
look like offering them time offor communicating what's a
priority to them to help themstay focused.
Employees should be concernedwith the stress levels of their
employees.
I think I just messed that up.
Employers should be concernedwith the stress levels of
employees, as stress has aserious impact on worker
productivity.
(26:42):
Careful planning and empathyand dealing with employees whose
personal problems affect theirwork performance are useful
tools that managers should havein their toolbox.
You know so Dave Ramsey has acool thing, um, through his.
I can't even think what it'scalled.
It's not a coaching program,but it's a.
It's a.
It's a tool that, like you, cansend out every week and your
(27:02):
employees can answer, like youknow, a smiley face, negative
face, whatever, of like howthey're doing, what they're
experiencing, what the high was,what the low was and when I
used it in our window business,I was shocked to learn some of
the things people would tell mein there and I was like, oh wow,
I did not think that Jimmywould tell me that.
And so it's really good to haveif you can do stuff like that or
hand a survey out or justphysically check in, whatever it
is that you need to do, andthen remember, provide support
(27:26):
and resources when youremployees are facing difficult
circumstances.
Okay, so you want to create asupportive environment so that
employees feel comfortablebringing their issues concerns
to you.
So this goes back to theemotional boundary, where it's
important to listen to theirissues that they're bringing
forward, listen with an opennessand respect.
Knowing about about youremployee's feeling within the
(27:46):
workplace, as well as theirworkload, can be valuable
information on how you canbetter structure their role or
how you can make changes whenpossible to make their job or
their role better.
Is it time to hire?
Is it time to move something tosomebody else?
Is their position not fittingtheir personality?
Is their you know mentalcapacity way bigger than this
(28:08):
role in their board and you needto find a different job for
them?
Look at all that Now whathappens when you cross
boundaries.
Sometimes there are situationswhen boundaries have been
crossed.
It could be intentional or itcould be unintentional.
What's the best strategies youask?
So glad you asked me.
You want to identify theproblem.
(28:28):
So what is the nature and scopeof the problem?
What's Jimmy's problem?
What's happening?
Why is he upset?
Then you want to communicateclearly.
So explain the issue directlyand how it is impacting you or
them or their team, as well aswhat you can expect from them
moving forward.
Then you want to monitor thefollow-up.
So, after you address the issue, observe their actions and give
feedback, acknowledge theirprogress and address any
(28:50):
setbacks.
It's important to celebrate theteam's achievements and success
to help them build positive andrespectful team culture.
So if Jimmy says little Timmy iscausing him problems not doing
job, and you talk to Timmy andhe agrees to do it, you better
check back in and make sureTimmy's doing it.
And if he is doing it, youthank him, you let him know he's
doing it and then you go backto, I think I said, tommy and
(29:13):
you check with him and make surehe's happy and everything's
kosher.
If it does not, give anotherwarning with more specifics,
check in again.
If it's not working.
Let the guy go, let littleTimmy go.
Free Timmy, all right.
Lead by example.
Boundaries within the workplacebegin with you, the leader.
There's a Forbes article thatdiscusses the four A's of
(29:35):
leadership Alignment,accountable, authentic and aware
.
The moment an individual seestheir leader as being off base
with any of the four A's, theywill stop following, stop
contributing their extra energyand stop caring in general.
As a leader, we must set theseboundaries within our business
and act in alignment with them.
They say that we are the onesthat demonstrate how we want to
(29:58):
be treated by others, so it'simportant to model that behavior
you wish for your employees.
I am pretty I would actually beton it that if I brought every
employee I have in here rightnow even the ones that have left
in the barnyard for sure andyou ask them how they feel about
me, I think they would tell youthat I am aligned with my goals
.
I say what I.
(30:18):
I walk what I say.
You know I walk the line that Isay.
I believe in the things thatI'm talking about.
I'm accountable.
If I mess up, I will be thefirst one to tell you.
I'm authentic.
I'm not perfect, I mess up, butI also love.
With my heart on my sleeve, Icare about the people that work
for me and I'm very aware ofwhat's going on.
There's a saying in my groupthat know me well that I'm a
(30:39):
watchman, because I'm alwayswatching what's going on.
I see stuff before other people.
I know stuff that some peoplethink I shouldn't know, but
sometimes I get the leading ofthe Lord or whatever, and I find
out things and I believe that'sGod watching out for me so I
can watch out for my team.
Let's see.
(31:00):
So at this point, you know,think back to the things that
you have seen, you'veexperienced, you've talked to
people about, and those are themoments that remind you that
like, yes, you've done it,you've talked to your team,
you've had issues that work, andhow was it addressed?
Did you like the way it wasaddressed?
Can you fix the way it wasaddressed?
You know we can always learnthings from the past.
So in our wrap up here, I wantto remember, want you to
(31:20):
remember, that boundariesclarify what's acceptable in the
workplace.
They also help employees seewhere they fit into your
business and what they canexpect from you as a leader B,
setting and respectingboundaries in the workplace and
by exploring key principles,strategies and real-life
examples, I hope you feelempowered to foster healthy,
(31:51):
respectful and productiverelationships in your
professional environment.
And again, thank you all forlistening.
Like, subscribe, share, hit thealerts button.
Whatever you want to do, giveme feedback.
I love listening to anything Ihear from you guys about what
you're going through.
If there's things I can addressto help you, I am taking
applications for interviews.
(32:11):
If you have a business, youhave a small business, you're
starting a business, you closedyour business.
Whatever, I would love to talkto you.
I want to bring you in, let'sdo an interview.
I have a bunch of newinterviews coming up starting
this week, so we'll be releasingthem soon and again.
Hit me up if you want to be onmy podcast and you have a
business or a business idea oranything.
I love talking to people.
My email is lightupyourbusinessLLC at Gmail and you can email
(32:36):
me through there.
There's a message link to onthese podcast links.
You can send a message throughthat.
Look me up, find me, share witheverybody you know.
And again, thank you for yourtime.
I do appreciate all of you.
You guys have a great day andremember in the world of
business.
Every success story begins witha passionate dream and ends
(32:58):
with a strategic billion-dollarhandshake.
Stay ambitious, stay innovativeand keep making those deals
that reshape tomorrow.
Thank you all for tuning in anduntil next time remember.
Proverbs 3, 3 says let love andfaithfulness never leave you.
Bind them around your neck,write them on the tablet of your
heart.
That way you will win favor anda good name in the sight of God
(33:21):
and man.
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Welcome to the Light Up your Business podcast, the
show where we dive deep into theworld of small businesses.
I'm your host, tammyHershberger, and each episode
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Whether you're an entrepreneurjust starting out or a seasoned
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(00:21):
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Let's get started to source forsuccess in the small business
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Let's get started.
Hi everyone, I am back withanother episode of Light Up your
Business podcast.
I'm excited to say that I'm inmy new podcast studio, which I'm
super excited about, and todayI want to talk to you guys about
a balancing act, setting andrespecting boundaries with your
(00:42):
employees.
So in this episode, we're goingto explore the importance of
establishing and maintainingboundaries in the
employee-employer relationship,from defining expectations to
respecting personal space andtime.
Join me as we navigate thedelicate balance between
fostering a positive workenvironment and respecting
individual boundaries.
(01:02):
We're going to draw from expertinsights, real-life scenarios
and practical strategies, andthis episode will offer
exceptional tips for bothemployees and employers to
navigate boundaries withprofessionalism and respect.
So let's talk about this.
(01:23):
Boundaries within a business aremore important than ever before
today, because there's aculture of hustle.
Everybody's moving, everybody'sgoing 100 miles a minute right,
and, at the end of the day,culture is what keeps your
company growing.
It keeps your company great,and I think it's what makes
people want to be a part of yourbusiness.
They want to work for someonethat has great culture, want to
(01:45):
be a part of your business.
They want to work for someonethat has great culture as a
business or a leader within yourbusiness.
It's important to remember andto establish boundaries within
your company and with youremployees.
Otherwise, your kindness couldbe taken advantage of, which can
lead to resentment.
It's much easier to setexpectations and boundaries from
the very beginning rather thantrying to change things midway
through, and, as a leader, it'sjust as important to honor your
(02:11):
employees' boundaries within theworkplace.
So I want to dive into that alittle bit before I continue.
So I know I've talked about thisa little bit in the past, but
me being a business owner,there's always this weird fine
line of like these people workfor me and they're my employees,
they're my team members,they're my family, and I've
heard it on both sides of theaisle.
Like you don't become friendswith your employees.
You don't become family withyour employees and I do
(02:32):
understand that and I understandin a corporate environment or a
very large company, you knowthat is hard to do because as
the owner of something like that, you cannot talk to everybody,
you can't have lunch witheverybody, you can't, you know,
mingle with everybody.
But I would hope in those bigcompanies that you have some
kind of system where yourmanagers, you know that are over
their departments, do some kindof that, like they implement
(02:54):
something to bring their teamstogether.
As you all know who listened tome, you know I own multiple
companies, but they're not hugecompanies.
They're not, you know, hundredsof employees.
So the barnyard I think rightnow currently has, let's see one
, two, three, four, five, six inthe back I mean I head up to
eight at one time eight or nine.
(03:14):
We've shrunk a little bit thislast year just with turnover and
people, you know, startingtheir own businesses and things
that they wanted to do.
So we have a smaller group andI think because of that my
situation is more like mostsmall businesses.
So if you have a small businessthat size, you can kind of
relate to me.
For me it's not about keepingemployees away from me as a
(03:39):
friend and as a family memberper se.
I know it's kind of cliche tosay that, but for me it's really
about making sure that they'retaken care of, making sure
they're happy, and I feel likeif I take good care of them, I
treat them like family, meaningwe have respect for each other.
We, we listen to each other, wedon't override each other.
Now I'm the boss and if I havea decision, you know I'll listen
(04:02):
to the feedback and sometimesthey may change my decision, but
most likely it's going tohappen.
You know I'm not just sayingthat your employees make the
rules, um, but I do take intoaccount what my employees have
to say, especially being assmall as we are.
You know I don't know everything, they don't know everything, um
, john doesn't know everything,and so I take into consideration
because they all have differentexperiences, different um past,
(04:23):
different jobs they've done.
They work for different kindsof bosses some big companies,
some small companies and so whenI say family to me, I mean that
in the respect that I'm goingto watch out for them, I'm going
to make sure if I see somethingoff, I'm going to say something
to them.
If I see they're struggling.
I'm going to say something.
You know they may notparticipate back, but I'm sure
(04:44):
going to try to make sure theyknow I see you, I care about you
and I'm going to watch out foryou.
And the same thing goes, youknow, in the work environment.
I'm going to watch you at yourjob.
I'm going to realize, like, areyou getting bored?
Are you struggling?
Do you not like the positionyou're in?
Are you at the point where youneed to grow into something else
?
I just had that with my salesman.
Had left and went and startedhis own business and I was
(05:07):
looking at hiring anothersalesman.
And then I we me and John kindof had a conversation with
another person that works for usand he had decided that he is
next.
I mean, he's an excellentbuilder, but he had used to own
his own company and he hasambitions to do more.
And so I'm not going to stiflehim by saying sorry, you have to
be a builder, even though Istill need builders, I could
(05:29):
actually use another one rightnow.
I'm going to move that guy intoa position that he's excited
about.
I'm going to move him into aposition that he likes.
He likes sales, he enjoys thecomputer side.
He enjoys growing the businessand so to keep that employee
engaged, I'm going to keep himinvested in my business.
I watch him light up when hegets to do this stuff and he's
(05:52):
willing to do kind of a hybridmodel where, because I'm short a
builder when there's not a lotof sales happening, he jumps
back in as a builder, which youknow is huge for me because it
saves me payroll for two people.
You know I have to kind of makeit work, but I really enjoy the
fact that he's willing to dothat and he's so excited about
it and that's going to keep himlong term right.
So that's the kind of thingwe're talking about here now.
There are boundaries and we'regoing to talk about those.
(06:13):
There are things you have toset in place so that you don't
get overrun, that your employeesthat are not good employees
don't take advantage of you.
You know, having friends inbusiness is hard because when
they work for you sometimes theyare like not my boss isn't
yelling at me, my friend'syelling at me, or my friend is
disappointed in me, not so muchmy boss, and there's kind of a
(06:33):
weird line you get and I can saymyself because I care about my
people and I treat them so well.
I even personally havesometimes a hard time, like you
know, something's got to bediscussed or corrected and there
is moments where, even though Iface it, it's hard because I'm
like, damn, I don't want to yellat, you know, katie or whatever
(06:53):
, whoever it is, I don't want tohave to get hard on her because
I really like her and she is myfriend.
But you know, that's where youhave to be a little bit careful
about that so you don't get aweird relationship going where
they think they don't have tolisten or they think they're
going to get favor becausethey're your friend or because
they're family or whatever it is.
So today we're going to discussmore the boundary side.
(07:14):
There's different types ofboundaries within a workplace,
how you can create healthyboundaries with your employees
and how you can navigate whenboundaries are crossed.
So boundaries allow you to leadand run your business in a
healthy way.
So let's talk about boundaries,let's understand them.
There are several differenttypes of boundaries within the
workplace.
There's emotional boundaries,which are when you can
(07:34):
communicate preferences and leadwith compassion and kindness.
It is being able to share howyou feel while respecting
others' needs as well.
You know it's okay to be like.
You know, emotionally Susie isstruggling.
You know emotionally she reactsdifferent to feedback and
remember that every person isdifferent.
So you know you have to learnto kind of be a leader and
(07:56):
figure out what strategy, whatplan is going to work for Jimmy
versus Tom right, becausethey're different people, or
Susie versus Katie.
Then there's time boundaries.
So you need to create thoseboundaries around your time by
stating when you're availableand when you are not, and
honoring those for yourself andyour employees.
So this is another good example.
I literally I won't say names,but I did have a conversation
(08:17):
with some people that I knowthat are business owners
recently and they were talkingabout how their training but
also their person that doestheir ordering and things for
them like a project manager isnot respecting their time and
they're constantly interruptingand asking questions.
Now there's twofold here.
One, maybe the person is nottrained well enough and they're
very uncomfortable, which meansthat the person that is their
(08:39):
boss needs to train them more.
That could be a differentsituation needs to train them
more.
That could be a differentsituation.
But if they're just at a pointwhere they are trained, they
know what to do and they justthey're scared to step out and
do their job or they're notcapable of doing their job and
they're going to have to keepinterrupting you.
Well, that is going to killyour time as the boss or as the
manager or whatever, and so theycan't be constantly
interrupting you and they haveto know that there is times they
(09:01):
can come talk to you.
There is times for that.
Now, like in my company, I havea shut door policy.
I have a door that literallylocks when you shut it and you
know it's fire safe.
So you can get out by justgoing from the inside out, but
the outside can't get in.
No-transcript.
(09:30):
If a guy wants to give us amillion dollar check and they
don't know how to run thetransaction, come find me.
But other than that they, Itrust my team, I've trained them
well.
I know that they know whatthey're doing and so you know if
it's something that can hold,hold it it, and when my door is
open, or if every day or everyweek there's a time to come ask
me these questions, then great,we can do that.
(09:50):
Now I understand there is timeswhen things have to be answered
If you don't have a system inplace for that, then you need to
figure out a system, becausethere is moments where things
need to be answered.
Sometimes, though, things canbe stacked up, so that's
something you have to decidewith yourself and your team of
how that's going to look andwhat that looks like as far as
(10:11):
to implement that strategy.
Let's talk about physicalboundaries.
So this means you establish asafe work environment that is
devoid of harassment and wherepeople have their own designated
space, which is respected.
Oh, I want to go back to timefor a minute.
Time is another thing.
If you, as the boss, areconstantly interrupting people
while they're trying to work,and just because you think your
stuff's more important, well,just remember that's a two-way
(10:33):
street.
So if your employees aregetting interrupted by you all
the time, you're killing theirtime.
You're going to shorten them ontheir projects.
They're not going to have thesales calls times they need,
whatever, so keep that in mind.
Back to the physical boundaries.
This is something I don't messwith.
So we all have our own space.
We're male and female.
I won't put up with sexualharassment.
I won't put up with bullying.
(10:54):
I won't put up with anythingthat's going to hurt someone
else.
Now my team.
We have fun and we're mostlyguys and we can joke around and
that's all good and fun, um, butthey very much are like family
and brothers.
So they, you know they do thatand they know their boundaries.
Now, for one second I hadanyone come to me and said Joe
said this and it bothers me.
You can bet I will have Joe'sback or the person's back that
(11:15):
came to me and I'm going to gohave a conversation with Joe and
we're going to let him know.
You can't do that.
This is America.
I am not a foo-foo me toomovement person.
I am.
If it's a legitimate thing andit applies to what we're talking
about, you know, sexualharassment, physical harassment,
bullying, threatening I'm goingto give you a chance to correct
it and if you do not correct ityou will find yourself a new
(11:37):
job.
I am not putting up with that.
I'm not risking my company foryou.
You know there's a lot of grayarea, I'm sure, in some of this,
and if someone is just pickyabout every little detail and
they whine about everything,then maybe they're not the right
person for your company.
But if it's a legitimateconcern, you, especially as the
owner or the leader need toaddress it ASAP so your people
(11:58):
feel safe and they know thatthey're going to be protected in
the environment you have putthem in.
If you do not do that, youshould lose your company and you
should not be in business.
Next thing mental boundaries.
Those are when you create spaceaway from work, like providing
paid time off to your employees,being able to take space when
moving through challenging times.
It can be important for youremployees and for you as a
(12:20):
leader.
I know I've talked a ton aboutthis, about me myself, the
things that I've gone through,but just remember your employees
do not need to work 24 hours aday, seven days a week, 365 days
a year.
They need time with their life,their family, their wife, their
kids.
They need time to you know,find who they are like, get
mental clarity on the thingsthey're facing.
Sickness comes to people andthey have to deal with that.
(12:42):
If you are a good owner and agood leader, you will notice
these times and you will makesure your people take those
times.
That is one thing I can sayabout the people that work for
me.
When I see they're struggling,I let them know.
Do you need to go home earlytoday.
Do you need time off, are youokay?
You know?
Do you need to take anappointment with a therapist or
whatever?
Let's figure it out, becauseI'd rather them, if they're good
(13:05):
worker, figure that out andstick with me long-term than
struggle and quit because theycan't handle it.
Also, I notice the people thatdo work for me.
It seems on the surface and I,you know, know them personally
when their lives are good, whentheir wife is happy, when their
children are happy and healthyand life is good, they are going
(13:25):
to work so good and hard foryou.
They're going to be the bestemployees you have and I admire
some of my employees.
They have families and they'rewise and they're happy and
they're good husbands andthey're good men and they're
good dads and and I watch theirchildren they're so happy and
you know I don't have a familyand so I look at that and I
admire and I envy that and I'mso thankful that I have men that
work for me, that are men.
They know how to lead theirfamilies, they know how to take
(13:47):
care of their families and Ihave, you know, a female that
works for me.
She doesn't have a family yet,but she's an amazing woman and
I'm proud of her and I look ather and I think, man, she's
doing everything she can to be agood human being and she's
caring about her family and sheloves her nieces and nephews and
I love having people like thatwork for me.
I love having people like thatin my life, and so that's an
(14:08):
environment that I create tomake sure I can foster their
growth.
Okay so then let's see Settingboundaries and establishing
clear expectations.
So this came from an articlefrom masterclasscom, which is
Dave Ramsey, and so thisinformation says setting clear
boundaries and expectations willhelp create the container for a
(14:29):
thriving work environment.
You set boundaries with youremployees by one ensuring they
know and understand their jobdescription.
This allows everyone to feelclear about what
responsibilities they carry, aswell as determine if workloads
are fairly distributed.
Okay so, job description.
I actually was just inMinnesota recently talking to a
cousin of ours and we weretalking about owning businesses
(14:51):
and the struggles, and there isthings out there where people
don't like when you hire someone, you don't have a hiring packet
, or you don't have onboardingprocedures and you don't even
know what your job descriptionsare, or you've never taken the
time to do it, you're making amistake because you need to know
every company is different.
Now, if there's a general ideaof you know a project manager,
office manager, whatever, buteverybody has their own policies
(15:11):
, procedures, software plans ofhow they do things.
So you need to take time tocreate job descriptions for your
salesman, for your officemanager, for the delivery driver
, for your builders, for yourforemans, for your managers,
whoever you have working for you.
Create those job descriptionsso when you hire, or if you're
just already got the people andyou now have to create them, you
(15:32):
can go over with them and ifthere is any bleed through, or
you know something that, like,joey is the cutter and he is,
you know, putting away lumberand he's building sheds and he's
roofing and you have a separateroofer, maybe you should not
have the cutter doing theroofing, maybe that's a bleed
over and you need to take thatout and say no, that would be
(15:54):
better suited for the roofer.
Or if you're in the office,sometimes you know we start
small and we create a positionand they're doing 50 million
things and then you hire anotherperson, then you realize, like,
the office manager maybedoesn't have to update the
inventory of the sheds anymore,or maybe they don't need to
maintain the sheet because maybeit makes more sense that the
salesman do that.
And so that's a great time torealize if there's things that
(16:16):
someone else is doing that youcan now give to someone else, or
maybe it's more efficient forsomeone else to do it.
Communicate it is crucial tocommunicate before the bad
habits start and set in, becausethe work environment will start
to feel negative and it willimpact employees mental,
(16:38):
physical and emotionalwell-being.
So if you notice I don't knowJoey is not doing his job
description and he's doingthings he's not supposed to be
doing, or there's problems withKimmy and Timmy I like my names.
Anyway, you need to communicatewith your people.
(16:58):
I am still.
That's the hill I'm going todie on, I swear.
I deal with bookkeeping, I dealwith a phone company, I do
phones for another company, Ihave my own company and there is
moments in all of that, withall the different companies I
deal with, there is thecommunication sucks and I'm
telling, telling you, I freakinghate when communication sucks.
It doesn't work because you'renot telling me what's happening
with x, y and z and then b and cover here is a disaster,
(17:21):
because they're not talking andyou know, something gets ordered
wrong or gets ordered twice orI don't know, a job gets missed
or whatever happens, becausecommunication is not happening.
This country thrives oncommunication.
Now there's people that areunder communicators.
There's people like me that areover communicators.
We have to come in the middle.
I can maybe not communicate asmuch I don't.
(17:42):
I don't exactly know what thatlooks like.
Maybe just try to make mysentences less long.
I don't know.
There's under communicators whoneed to like freaking talk.
They need to communicate and soit's super important you let
that know in your company thatthis needs to be happening, and
if it's not happening, youaddress it.
Number three establish aboundary around personal and
professional life.
To maintain healthy workrelationships, it can be helpful
(18:04):
to notice how much of yourpersonal life you are bringing
to work with you.
So deciding on how much of yourpersonal life you bring to work
can help cultivate a healthypersonal and professional
balance.
So this goes twofold as theowner, you don't want to bring
in that your husband's cheatingon you or you're having issues
with your neighbor or whatever,because this stuff is taking up
(18:27):
your employee's time.
If you're telling them aboutthis, you're wasting your
employee's time.
You're wasting your time.
You're bringing drama into theworkforce that you do not need.
You don't want them distractedwith this stuff.
Also, if Timmy and Tammy aretalking and they're having
conflict or you know they arecomplaining about their spouse
or what happened yesterday,again they are not wasting your
company time.
There's two of them doing it,so it's twice the time waste and
(18:49):
you're bringing drama and youdon't want.
You want a drama-freeenvironment so people can foster
the culture that you'reproviding.
They can foster theircreativity and their mental
energy on the things that youare paying them to do.
If you hear people gossiping,shut it down.
You don't want that in yourcompany.
You don't want people thinkingthat other people are gossiping
about each other.
It's not a good look.
(19:10):
Get rid of it.
Four time off means time off.
Taking designated time off isimportant to disconnect from
work.
So you need to log off yourplatforms, turn off your email
notifications, allow yourselfspace to relax and recharge,
promoting a culture of work-lifebalance by respecting
employees' time off and personalcommitments.
So what that means as the owner, the leader if Jojo takes the
(19:34):
day off, I mean I would doeverything I possibly can to
respect that and not call them.
I wouldn't be calling themasking about where's this,
where's that, what's the priceof that, what's that?
You know I tell my, theemployees that I have, like I am
leaving.
I trust you're going to handleit.
If there's something major,call me.
Otherwise I trust you to handleit and they're very, very good
about that.
(19:54):
It's very rare we get a calland you know we're okay with
that.
But you know your employees arenot the owners.
They need time with theirfamily, they need time to take
care of themselves, they needweekends off to recharge and
they'll come back stronger forit.
Five respecting people's no.
We want an employee to be ableto tell us if they don't feel
comfortable doing something orif they already have too much on
their plate.
(20:14):
Communicating this is vital toprevent burnout and maintain a
work-life balance.
Now, if they tell you no oneverything, it's probably not
the person that you have orshould have in the job position.
But I do respect when someonesays to me you know I don't know
how to do that.
I can still do it if you'd like, but I don't know how.
Okay, then I can maybe look atfinding someone else.
If they're not comfortable,safety wise.
(20:35):
I need to know that so theydon't get hurt.
If they feel like they're sooverburdened, then I need to
know that, because I'm eitherputting too much on their plate,
I have job bleed happeningright where stuff's getting
overlapped into other people's.
Maybe I can separate thatsomehow, maybe it's something I
can help with to get thepressure off of them.
So those are just some thingsto think about.
(20:56):
Now, talking about respectingpersonal space, you want to
avoid micromanagement and allowemployees autonomy in their work
.
I have literally seen this Iwon't say names, but I know
someone that for certain peoplethey will do anything.
This person tells them They'llsuck it up, no matter what
personal, professional, whatever.
(21:17):
Then they come into life andthey're miserable because they
don't get to do what they want.
They're not doing the job theywant, they're not dating the
person they want, whatever.
And so it's like you'remiserable because they have no
autonomy.
And then they do drugs, they dothings they're not supposed to
do, they fight against thesystem, they won't follow the
business rules.
I mean, there's just so muchstuff that goes wrong in that
(21:44):
and so you want to make sureyou're not micromanaging them.
There has been a survey donethat says that 59% of employees
have said that they've workedfor a micromanager, which means
someone that's on their butt,don't trust them, got to
micromanage every little detailand instead of it's like me, I
say here's this Do you know whatI'm saying?
Do you understand?
Yes, go do it and don't comeback to me until it's done.
Some people will stand overthem.
Is it done?
Did you do this right?
Can I see this Like?
They don't trust them, andtrust will not work if you don't
(22:05):
have it.
You have to have trust withyour employees or they're not
going to trust you.
They're not going to be happyworking for you.
So in this same study, it saidthat 68% reported a decrease in
morale.
You don't want the morale ofyour company to die, because
that will kill your company.
It means your people aren'thappy, while 55% claimed it hurt
their productivity.
(22:26):
If they're not producing well,then you need to figure out
what's happening right, andmaybe it's because you're the
problem.
So two negative side effectscan lead to a larger problem,
which is then employee turnover.
And I am telling you today it isharder than ever to find people
that are good and that you canafford to pay with these crazy.
You know McDonald's salaries,that someplace or not.
(22:48):
Salaries pay of like 18 to $30an hour.
It's insane.
I'm not even going to get intoall that, because food prices go
up, everything goes up, andthen it doesn't really help you.
But it is not an easy time tofind good workers and a lot of
good workers are going on theirown and starting their own
business, which is great.
It's not great for me trying tofind an employee.
But you do not want tomicromanage people.
(23:09):
Trust your people or get rid ofthem and find the right people.
Okay.
So in an article by HarvardBusiness School online, it says
that there's five ways you canavoid micromanaging.
Ready for this.
Number one practice delegatingFigure.
Avoid micromanaging.
Ready for this Number onepractice delegating Figure.
Out who can do it and give itto them and trust them.
Two set clear expectations.
Tell the people what I expect.
(23:30):
So if I expect you here at 2 pmand the job better be done by 3
pm and you're going to take thetrash out while you're doing
your job and your desk is goingto be clean at the end of the
day, well, you better frigging,believe it.
When it comes 3 pm, I'm goingto look at those expectations
and if they miss them, I canclearly say to Jimmy Jimmy, it's
three o'clock, your job's notdone, the trash isn't taken out,
(23:51):
your desk is a disaster.
What happened?
Right, because you set clearexpectations.
It's the same thing inrelationships.
If you say I need you to talkto me, I need you to explain the
problems to me In a marriage.
If I say I need you to notcheat on me and I need you to
not destroy my home, whatever,then that's simple expectations
(24:12):
and everybody understands it.
Number four, which is very hardfor me.
Or number three sorry, let goof perfectionism.
I don't know that I do thatwith everybody else Maybe do,
but I certainly do it withmyself.
Remember, everybody's got theirown problems, their own issues,
their own things they're goodat, not good at, and so
expectations or perfectionism,sorry, can become a major
(24:33):
problem in a relationship inyour business.
Now I'm saying it's okay to bean A player, it's okay to expect
your people to do a good job,but if you're expecting
perfection, you're not going toget it.
Four hire the right people.
I know someone right now thathas hired the wrong person.
(24:55):
Their attitude sucks, they makemistakes a lot and they're
scared now to get rid of thembecause they feel like it's
going to be worse by getting ridof them, and, of course, this
is their decision to make.
I have noticed in my path, inmy businesses, my career, there
is a saying that says slow tofire or, I'm sorry, slow to hire
, quick to fire, and I will notwaste my time with you If you
(25:16):
aren't getting it.
And you're not getting itwithin the 90-day trial I have
for you, you're really not goingto get it, because if you have
a crappy attitude in the 90 days, when you're usually at your
best, it's going to get freakingworse and I don't want to deal
with it.
And so, hire the right people,get them on the bus, figure the
right seats out for them andthen solicit feedback.
Talk to your team, talk to thepeople.
Are they getting micromanaged?
(25:37):
Do they feel micromanaged?
Is there any issues?
Is there things you can change?
Communication is the key.
So when you avoid micromanagingyour employees, it will
cultivate a healthy workenvironment that breeds trust,
an environment that employeeswill thrive in rather than want
to leave.
Okay, number I think it's numbersix handle sensitive topics.
(25:58):
Employees that are goingthrough difficult life
circumstances still need to meettheir work expectations.
Sadly, that is still the truth.
However, employees can besupportive and understanding
while enforcing performance andconduct standards at work.
So have one-on-one meetingswith your employees going
through difficult or personaldifficulties and they can.
They feel like you're caringabout them and it can be helpful
(26:21):
for them to let some things out.
That way, you can learn how tobest support them, which might
look like offering them time offor communicating what's a
priority to them to help themstay focused.
Employees should be concernedwith the stress levels of their
employees.
I think I just messed that up.
Employers should be concernedwith the stress levels of
employees, as stress has aserious impact on worker
productivity.
(26:42):
Careful planning and empathyand dealing with employees whose
personal problems affect theirwork performance are useful
tools that managers should havein their toolbox.
You know so Dave Ramsey has acool thing, um, through his.
I can't even think what it'scalled.
It's not a coaching program,but it's a.
It's a.
It's a tool that, like you, cansend out every week and your
(27:02):
employees can answer, like youknow, a smiley face, negative
face, whatever, of like howthey're doing, what they're
experiencing, what the high was,what the low was and when I
used it in our window business,I was shocked to learn some of
the things people would tell mein there and I was like, oh wow,
I did not think that Jimmywould tell me that.
And so it's really good to haveif you can do stuff like that or
hand a survey out or justphysically check in, whatever it
is that you need to do, andthen remember, provide support
(27:26):
and resources when youremployees are facing difficult
circumstances.
Okay, so you want to create asupportive environment so that
employees feel comfortablebringing their issues concerns
to you.
So this goes back to theemotional boundary, where it's
important to listen to theirissues that they're bringing
forward, listen with an opennessand respect.
Knowing about about youremployee's feeling within the
(27:46):
workplace, as well as theirworkload, can be valuable
information on how you canbetter structure their role or
how you can make changes whenpossible to make their job or
their role better.
Is it time to hire?
Is it time to move something tosomebody else?
Is their position not fittingtheir personality?
Is their you know mentalcapacity way bigger than this
(28:08):
role in their board and you needto find a different job for
them?
Look at all that Now whathappens when you cross
boundaries.
Sometimes there are situationswhen boundaries have been
crossed.
It could be intentional or itcould be unintentional.
What's the best strategies youask?
So glad you asked me.
You want to identify theproblem.
(28:28):
So what is the nature and scopeof the problem?
What's Jimmy's problem?
What's happening?
Why is he upset?
Then you want to communicateclearly.
So explain the issue directlyand how it is impacting you or
them or their team, as well aswhat you can expect from them
moving forward.
Then you want to monitor thefollow-up.
So, after you address the issue, observe their actions and give
feedback, acknowledge theirprogress and address any
(28:50):
setbacks.
It's important to celebrate theteam's achievements and success
to help them build positive andrespectful team culture.
So if Jimmy says little Timmy iscausing him problems not doing
job, and you talk to Timmy andhe agrees to do it, you better
check back in and make sureTimmy's doing it.
And if he is doing it, youthank him, you let him know he's
doing it and then you go backto, I think I said, tommy and
(29:13):
you check with him and make surehe's happy and everything's
kosher.
If it does not, give anotherwarning with more specifics,
check in again.
If it's not working.
Let the guy go, let littleTimmy go.
Free Timmy, all right.
Lead by example.
Boundaries within the workplacebegin with you, the leader.
There's a Forbes article thatdiscusses the four A's of
(29:35):
leadership Alignment,accountable, authentic and aware
.
The moment an individual seestheir leader as being off base
with any of the four A's, theywill stop following, stop
contributing their extra energyand stop caring in general.
As a leader, we must set theseboundaries within our business
and act in alignment with them.
They say that we are the onesthat demonstrate how we want to
(29:58):
be treated by others, so it'simportant to model that behavior
you wish for your employees.
I am pretty I would actually beton it that if I brought every
employee I have in here rightnow even the ones that have left
in the barnyard for sure andyou ask them how they feel about
me, I think they would tell youthat I am aligned with my goals
.
I say what I.
(30:18):
I walk what I say.
You know I walk the line that Isay.
I believe in the things thatI'm talking about.
I'm accountable.
If I mess up, I will be thefirst one to tell you.
I'm authentic.
I'm not perfect, I mess up, butI also love.
With my heart on my sleeve, Icare about the people that work
for me and I'm very aware ofwhat's going on.
There's a saying in my groupthat know me well that I'm a
(30:39):
watchman, because I'm alwayswatching what's going on.
I see stuff before other people.
I know stuff that some peoplethink I shouldn't know, but
sometimes I get the leading ofthe Lord or whatever, and I find
out things and I believe that'sGod watching out for me so I
can watch out for my team.
Let's see.
(31:00):
So at this point, you know,think back to the things that
you have seen, you'veexperienced, you've talked to
people about, and those are themoments that remind you that
like, yes, you've done it,you've talked to your team,
you've had issues that work, andhow was it addressed?
Did you like the way it wasaddressed?
Can you fix the way it wasaddressed?
You know we can always learnthings from the past.
So in our wrap up here, I wantto remember, want you to
(31:20):
remember, that boundariesclarify what's acceptable in the
workplace.
They also help employees seewhere they fit into your
business and what they canexpect from you as a leader B,
setting and respectingboundaries in the workplace and
by exploring key principles,strategies and real-life
examples, I hope you feelempowered to foster healthy,
(31:51):
respectful and productiverelationships in your
professional environment.
And again, thank you all forlistening.
Like, subscribe, share, hit thealerts button.
Whatever you want to do, giveme feedback.
I love listening to anything Ihear from you guys about what
you're going through.
If there's things I can addressto help you, I am taking
applications for interviews.
(32:11):
If you have a business, youhave a small business, you're
starting a business, you closedyour business.
Whatever, I would love to talkto you.
I want to bring you in, let'sdo an interview.
I have a bunch of newinterviews coming up starting
this week, so we'll be releasingthem soon and again.
Hit me up if you want to be onmy podcast and you have a
business or a business idea oranything.
I love talking to people.
My email is lightupyourbusinessLLC at Gmail and you can email
(32:36):
me through there.
There's a message link to onthese podcast links.
You can send a message throughthat.
Look me up, find me, share witheverybody you know.
And again, thank you for yourtime.
I do appreciate all of you.
You guys have a great day andremember in the world of
business.
Every success story begins witha passionate dream and ends
(32:58):
with a strategic billion-dollarhandshake.
Stay ambitious, stay innovativeand keep making those deals
that reshape tomorrow.
Thank you all for tuning in anduntil next time remember.
Proverbs 3, 3 says let love andfaithfulness never leave you.
Bind them around your neck,write them on the tablet of your
heart.
That way you will win favor anda good name in the sight of God
(33:21):
and man.
And remember if you like whatyou heard today, click the
follow button so you never missan episode.
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