Virtual personal space requires good boundaries — here’s how to set and respect them
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I began my career at a mid-sized company where I sat in pod-like configurations with no cubicle walls. Our desks were a few feet apart from each other. While an open-plan office typically starves us of personal space, the only time I felt my personal space compromised there was when a colleague with less-than-stellar personal hygiene joined the team.
We can define personal space as the area individual humans actively maintain around themselves into which others cannot intrude without arousing discomfort.
Many of us now work in virtual spaces with remote team members, so it’s even less likely for us to feel encroached upon physically in day-to-day situations. But what about personal space in that virtual realm?
In my experience, virtual space requires the same kind of boundary-setting and respect for the boundaries of others that physical spaces require. Learning the skills to set and respect these boundaries among remote teams—or teams that combine remote and on-site work—is an…