Boundaries or Boundaryless

Entangled/Strangled or Fluid and Permeable?

As a consultant working with an engineering firm decades ago, boundaries were the topic of much discussion and exploration. How do we define boundaries within an organization morphed into questions about personal boundaries

What is the significance of boundaries? Safety, protection, privacy, limits? Together we explored that setting and sustaining boundaries is a skill. Is it the same inside the domain of our work life? What do boundaries have to do with relationships in work or life?

Turns out that the situation matters. Is the question about competence, power, efficiency or our identity? Our inquiry found out that sometimes containment and control are needed as in an emergency. We also found out that holding a space for possibility had other requirements such as understanding, clarity and openness. My conclusion, even after decades, is that boundaries are useful and can be defined by the circumstances and outcomes we desire.

As each engineer described the story behind the visual representation of an organizational structure, the heart of the question was evident.