So often, boundaries at work are challenged and sometimes we end up giving more than is actually required. Staff shortages, covering sick leave, or just being super busy can leave us feeling stretched and can bring extra pressure. Perhaps you are in a new role and so naturally there isn’t clarity about what is expected of you.
I share below why it is crucial to get role clarity and form a job description that will ultimately support you and everyone you work with.
Clearer boundaries
For sure, everyone mucking in especially if you are a small team is crucial and it maybe you have a good crew where you naturally are in touch about your role, what is needed and what you are happy to do.
Communication is crucial in everything, especially at work and team work.
If however you are not fortunate enough to have a clear structure of support, or open communication, then knowing your role and who is responsible is essential. Ideally having a clear go to of support you can aid this, but ultimately we want to be strengthened in ourself and clear what our role entails.
Boundaries ultimately come down to knowing yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, but also knowing what your expectations are at work.
Clear boundaries, often means it is easier to switch off or have a more enriched down time from work. After all, life is not all about hard work. This is a misconception from an outdated model of work until you drop, for sure working hard is part of life, but this belief that that is the only way to get there is to slog on a treadmill day in and day out is not realistic or supportive.
Job description
Revisit your job description, what are you doing? What are you not doing? Is there anything you like or dislike? Is there anyone else that now does some of these tasks? Or is there any extra or new tasks to add?
I would wholeheartedly take some time to jot this down for a guide to clarifying your role, if you dont have one, start one.
You are a valued human being that deserves a healthy work life balance and to be exalted in your career. Whilst we will all have bad days, we spend sooooo long at work and if you are hitting regular stressors that is impacting your personal life and you feel you are not being compensated for, then now is the time to take back the control.
Trust me, I have been there which is why I deeply understand about this and why I am writing this, I was just recently in a new role and it all got way out of control who was responsible, what was my role, but by speaking up, I got to work with the manager to put job descriptions into place, so everyone felt more at ease and clearer within the team
Strengths and weaknesses
It might be actually there are things you don’t like doing, or don’t want to do and your job has gone far out of sight and a bit topsy turvey. You might be forced into a position of covering sick leave, or feel stretched to cover staff shortages. Of course sometimes this is inevitable, but if there isnt support and it is dragging on then it ultimately leads to unhappy staff. Support and healthy breaks are key to regaining strength.
Ideally you want a role with regular check ins on how you are, how is the workload, what elements you like, dislike doing and any potential support that is missing. Weaknesses are okay, we all have them. Is it that you need extra training? What is is about these tasks do you not like? Perhaps the person sat opposite you, loves doing that task, so there might be an easy solution already.
If you are not clear about your natural strengths and weaknesses, then I offer support in finding this out. Sign up here Contact to receive when the next passions and values training will be.
Time management
Once you have written or revisited your job description, work out how long it takes you to complete all your regular tasks, this will help to see where priorities can be focused and is a healthy chunk of evidence to take to your go to.
it only takes 5 mins to jot down your mains tasks. The time part can be broken down into chunks. You may find it helpful to reflect on this or go full blown into using a time management tool, like Toggi.
In my experience, awareness = clarity = knowledge = change.
Benefits of gaining clarity in your role
Speaking up with your knowledge will ultimately help you and others to do the same in their role and can be fed back to management. If you feel you are not getting the support you need, then you really need to consider if this is the type of role you want to be in. Maybe you feel strong in yourself and have other supports outside of work so your ‘why’ to going to work is clear and for you it’s okay that it isnt ideal.
If however, you want to change something, then having this is evidence of what you are doing is so helpful.
It can make our pay grade easier to re-consider, as you are seeing evidence for what you are doing. I am doing all this and it takes me this long. Ask yourself, do you feel it reflects on your worth? I mean worth from your most highest, incredible self, not the small version we can sometimes think of ourselves.
It can bring a better overview of what’s needed or missing as a whole, this is where management should see and be able to advise the directors of what is missing.
Opportunity for changing what isnt working or serving you. For sure there will be industries where no change is possible or they dont see a way out as they are not focusing in on solutions. Again, choosing which firm you work for and hopefully one with most support is ideal, but by role clarity then you have an opportunity to make a change.
It makes reviews easier and quicker, as there is more of an awareness and general flow.
To conclude, so there you have it, if you havent got a job description please do one, if you feel too busy to do one, that is the perfect time to do it. As always, if you have any queries, or want to feedback or even book in a free overwhelm session to focus practically on feeling calmer and more in control of your career and work life balance, then do reach out here.
Love Emily