Boundaries, fence lines and knowing your ground

I first encountered renowned Canadian designer Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth decades ago. And one of the points he made stuck with me.

He said, “AVOID FIELDS, JUMP FENCES. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.”

Today, while the maverick in me still loves this. The counsel sees both opportunity and risk. Yes, jump fences, but first, know whose land you’re on. And by land, I mean anything from geopolitics to online communities, your organisation or personal preferences.

In a discussion on the Farnham Street Podcast, organisational psychologist Julie Gurner captures a sentiment similar to Mau’s: “Boundaries are incredibly important, but boundaries do ultimately free us.”

The best businesses know who they are, what they want or don’t want and how they do things. Cultivating robust boundaries helps others stay on the right side of what you’re doing.

Organisational foundation stones of purpose and values are a helpful starting point. But any aspect of what you do every day, even short-term projects, general practices and values can benefit from boundaries.

Perhaps you feel a boundary is counterproductive for today’s move-fast and break-things mindset. But the grass is rarely greener on the other side, and it’s hard to defend fuzzy edges.

I call them a fence lines, and the analogy works for many reasons. Inside the outer edges of what I care about, there is still plenty of room to graze. And then within that landscape, smaller or temporary pastures can fit as needed.

When you know what and where the fence is, you can always choose to jump it, but you won’t ever accidentally wander onto someone else’s turf.

The visual metaphor of a fence is also useful. Consider how differently people might respond to a bullet list of strategic goals versus shown as a fence line.

• Goal
• Goal
• Goal
• Goal

The impression of hierarchy disappears, and there’s an immediate shift to a more dynamic relationship between your choices.

Of course what the fence looks like is up to you. Four sides is traditional. However, use whatever works. It’s putting the boundary in place that matters most.

Even the shorthand of ‘we’re jumping the fence’ helps call out places where you may need to pause and think a bit more deeply about what’s happening (as opposed to the infamous ‘jumping the shark’, which carries a distinctly different meaning).

Other benefits include providing more autonomy in people’s work. By letting them roam (within reason), they can deliver bounded choices that serve both the organisation and themselves.

In a recent client project, the team identified four objectives for the desired outcome. And as work proceeded, the fence line provided a handy way to stay on track.

With those pieces in place, what could have easily become a bloated, bureaucratic process no one wanted to use stayed lean. And while some ideas sat easily, others were on the border and beyond.

When one of the ideas for capturing information landed outside the fence line, the resulting tension sparked a more straightforward suggestion.

Fence lines are also essential to accumulating value to store in the brand. Weak fences translate into risky and poorly understood promises you can easily break. Then, before you know it. You’ve got cows everywhere!

Try it today. Pick a space, project or principle and add a fence line. Draw it on a whiteboard. Pop it in a PowerPoint. Plot aspects of the work and see what is wandering beyond the boundary.

Thanks for reading.
Michel

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