Practice #3

Set Boundaries & Expectations

Organizational boundaries are the parameters that define what we work on, how we operate, who we are accountable to, and what we will or will not do.

Evaluate and communicate organizational boundaries to avoid confusion and detract from purpose. Share expectations for how people work together, who makes decisions, and what makes the work possible. 

Effective belonging comes with boundaries. If we try to do everything, we become nothing. For people to feel as if they belong, they need to understand the dimensions of what they belong to. This includes clarifying expectations for how we treat each other, illuminating where and why hierarchies exist, and re-constructing boundaries or possibilities as conditions change.

Atop a light grey-blue patch is a sewn turquoise sieve held by two community members. They sieve sand from earth and cool tone jewels, working together to filter out what does not work and keeping what does work in their connection, leaving behind beautiful gems. The person on the left is a medium-toned South Asian person with a high dark brown ponytail, wearing a deep blue shirt and color blocked pants. The person on the right is a Black Latinx person with dreads, wearing an olive green long sleeve shirt and green-grey pants.

“If I break my leg, it is reasonable for me to expect that when I come into any of our political orgs, that somebody's going to come downstairs, carry my bag, and help me up. When I come in, somebody will put out a chair so I can put my leg up. Somebody will go get me water. But it's not reasonable to expect that somebody will put my bones back, set them, and then put a cast or splint on my leg. But, for some reason, around emotional health, people are expecting our political spaces to be their places of healing outright. And that's just not possible.”

– Fahd Ahmed

Risk

Without clear expectations, people will make assumptions around which needs get met, who holds what power, and who is responsible for others’ pain and belonging. These assumptions are informed by our broader dominant culture of individualism and neoliberalism, and may manifest in our groups as:

    • people assuming that all of their needs will be met in one space; 
    • asserting that every moment is the right moment for an emotion to be heard; 
    • expecting the politics of the organization to completely overlap with their own; 
    • believing every experience will be fully seen and understood by people of the same identity;
    • asserting that every single decision should be made by the collective, and all work should be shared. 

This misalignment can manifest as conflict, creating more hurt and halting organizational progress.

Opportunity

Setting and communicating boundaries – our yesses and nos – is a practice of effective organizing. Once we make decisions about what we will and won’t do, we can more clearly look at what is possible. As Yotam Marom shares in his piece, Moving Toward Conflict for the Sake of Good Strategy: “Strategy is all about choice. It is about saying no, sharpening a position through disagreement, narrowing focus. It requires the will to remain in tension long enough to expose the deepest misalignments, the skill to actually enter into serious disagreement and emerge from it stronger. It requires letting go and facing loss, giving up pieces of oneself and one’s dreams and sometimes even people on one’s team or one’s own place in it, in order to create something healthy and clear and powerful enough to have an impact.”

When we know what is expected of us, of the space, and of others, we can more effectively move with integrity and clarity. In our groups, this opens up opportunities for people to give and receive support, rely on a wider ecosystem of resources, and participate in work at the right level of challenge6. 

Inevitably, when mistakes are made and slip-ups occur, grounded and communicated expectations can help our groups engage in transformative accountability. Rather than dwelling on the mistake, we can instead focus on how we get back in alignment or shift expectations to meet the moment. These processes build on an understanding of not only ‘what’ we belong to, but ‘how’ we belong to each other.

Challenge

Setting and communicating expectations is not a one-and-done situation. Boundaries need to be responsive to our conditions. Overcommitment to boundaries that are outdated or out of alignment with our values or context can make people feel alienated and subject to disempowering ‘rules.’

Groups need to be mindful of the relationship between their organizational boundaries and peoples’ personal boundaries, as they can often become conflated. People may believe that their personal boundary or capacity should be the boundary of the group, and when they don’t match, misattribute this to an ideological misalignment. For example, if someone cannot or does not want to door knock, they argue that the action of doing so is politically impure. Other times, people with high rank or status within the organization can set group boundaries through the enforcement of their own. For instance, if a director has a tendency towards over-accountability in conflict, the organization will be expected to have the same response.

Assessment Questions

Can people across the organization name what is expected of them in their role? Do they understand what they can expect from others, and from the organization as a whole?

Do people in the organization understand how decisions are made? Do they see their place in the decision making process?

Is it clear that the organization is trying to be a social space, political home, cultural community, healing center, movement building project, or something else?

Implementation

Clarify the boundaries of what the organization does on the day-to-day, as well as in moments of crisis. Work with members to identify potential needs or scenarios, and map which are met in the organization, and which are met elsewhere.

Design clear resources and trainings to illustrate how people in the organization are expected to relate to each other, work together, and make decisions.

When conditions shift, work with members to identify how this changes any organizational boundaries or expectations.

When members join the organization, create opportunities to learn about the context of organizational boundaries and how decisions get made.

Practice holding people accountable to shared expectations in moments of conflict or when work is left incomplete. If a consistent challenge, shift expectations in line with group needs and organizational values.

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Next: Understand Trauma & Build Emotional Skill

6 ‘Right level of challenge’ describes work that is difficult enough to inspire learning and growth, without being ‘too difficult’ OR ‘too easy.’ This work could be right outside someone’s capabilities, but is still possible to achieve with support or guidance. Challenging ourselves and each other at the right level gives us the greatest opportunity for growth and motivates new action.

Right-Sized Belonging

Practice 3: Set Boundaries & Expectations
Risk
Opportunity
Challenge
Assessment Questions
Implementation