Setting & Keeping Boundaries with Your Team & Your Clients
[Updated October 2021]
Have you ever had a client send you an urgent last-minute request on a Friday night expecting you to respond immediately? Or even worse, they’ve started texting/calling you on the weekend (or anytime for that matter) and expect you to drop everything? If so, there’s a good chance that boundaries have been thrown out the window.
I’ve unfortunately seen the difficulties teams face when projects go sideways and interactions with clients turn sour. I’ve seen people leave meetings completely devastated because of a poor interaction with their client. Misaligned boundaries can leave team members pulling all-nighters in order to meet last minute requests of a client.
In most situations, these were not nightmare clients, however they had been trained to be nightmare clients. To create a true partnership with your clients, you need to establish clear boundaries early and whenever necessary to keep the rules of engagement top of mind.
These situations were completely preventable. So why not set yourself and your team up well from the start with proper boundaries and expectations of the client?
How to Start Establishing Boundaries
Start with a solid contract. Outside of the scope, budget and timeline, here are some things you can add to your contracts:
Office Hours - Let your client know when you and your team are in the office and reachable. Just because many teams are now fully remote, doesn’t mean they should be answering emails around the clock.
Modes of Communication - However you and your team communicate (Slack, email, a helpdesk), make it known and clear up front. Otherwise, your client will likely try their favorite methods and that may include texting!
Net payment terms + details when money is due - Agreeing on net payment terms is important but just as important is detailing out when money actually changes hands. Ex: if you’ve written in that the final 50% of a project is due at project completion, detail out what project completion really means (i.e. once final delivery meeting has occurred but before assets are handed over).
Number of rounds for feedback - List the rounds of feedback allowed for phases of the project where the outcome can be subjective (i.e. design) so as to encourage the client to have all feedback gathered when communicating with project teams.
Stop work/pause clause - If a client deliverable, such as feedback or approval is late for more than X business days, the project goes into a “Paused” status. Once the deliverable is received, the project will proceed according to the available schedule of your team. If they’ve moved on to another project, the client may have to wait to get moving with their project again.
Rush fee clause - If the timeline on a deliverable needs to be shifted sooner or a project request comes through with a very tight timeline, a rush fee will help soften the blow if you decide to accept the request. It will also encourage clients to be mindful of the timeline for future projects as a cost-saving strategy.
Get on the same page with a well organized kick-off. This can be on a call or in person. Here are some agenda items to include:
Re-visit that great contract you just signed with your client and review things again such as office hours and modes of communication
Review who the team consists of, what their roles are, and who will be their main touch point
Review stakeholders on the client side and who has approving power for the project
Outline feedback timeline expectations (for yourselves and the client)
Determine meeting cadence and attendees
Review and agree on scope, deliverables, and timeline
Send weekly recaps that include:
High level overview of what was accomplished during the week
What the priorities are for the week ahead
Recap of anything you may be waiting on from the client / items that are preventing you and the team from moving forward
Perform a project or sprint retro (with the client included):
Regardless of whether you’re performing retros after each sprint, or the entire project, they are so valuable in learning how the entire team can improve for next time.
Include clients in order to get their feedback on what went well, what didn’t go well, and what can be improved for the future. This is a great opportunity to remind clients of items agreed upon in the original contract and reviewed during kickoff.
Be strict with yourself to keep communication in office hours.
Utilize tools to alter delivery times of messages to encourage only communicating during your office hours. Tools like Gmail Delay / Boomerang and Slack are great for this.
Remember Why This Matters
This might be a lot to keep track of on top of a new client and kicking off a project. But the more frequently you implement strong boundaries with clients from the get-go, the easier it will get. Start modeling these expectations for your team. Pay attention to office hours and make note if you see someone working overtime or beyond the norm. Bring it up directly with them and teach your team to respect their own time. Training clients to abide by the established boundaries will also allow you to reap the benefits when it’s crunch time! If you don’t enforce the boundaries you’ve set up, it will train them to expect more from you than discussed.
It’s important to remember the goal in all of this is a healthier, happier team and a better experience for your clients. Professional boundaries ensure clarity and allow for the best case scenario. Clear-set expectations allow us to do our job and do it well.
