“After attending the Discovery Day in March, I decided to take my learning around personal space and boundaries into my work setting.
I wanted to set a boundary with a member of my team who felt it was ok to invade my personal space regularly. Up until I did your course, I felt that maybe I was unusual for feeling awkward, when he used to lean over me and my desk to get what he wanted from around me.
What I learned on the Discovery Day is that is it normal to feel angry when someone invades your personal space. So one day I asked him if he could please not lean across me and also try not to bump chairs with me when we were working closely together. I was surprised when he said he completely understood and didn’t mean to cause offence.
He then asked me if there were any other instances that bothered me. So I told him that when we are working together I could be in deep concentration working on something and then all of a sudden have a phone call from him asking me to find something for him in relation to something completely different. I had the feeling that what I was doing had to be pushed to one side, and I had to do what he was looking at then and there. So I asked if instead he could ask me if now was a good time or if not, that we could we discuss it later. He agreed, and although he still calls and just blurts out what he wants to know, I now have the courage to say to him I will look at for him and that I will call him back, which works really well for us both.
It might be worth noting that in the year running up to me joining as his assistant, he had had SIX Personal Assistants and the reason for this was because of his abrupt attitude.
I cannot thank you enough for the journey you have taken me on so far, and look forward to booking in for a session again with you very soon.”
