A How We Work document turns your business values, boundaries, and expectations into clear guidelines for clients and team members—and it starts with getting clear on the foundation of your business.
Every time I mention a How We Work document to a client, I get some version of the same response: "Wait. I need that."
And I understand why.
Most business owners already have preferences, expectations, and boundaries around how they want to work. They know they don't want clients texting them at night. They know they need more notice for urgent requests. They know they want their team to take ownership instead of waiting for instructions. They know certain behaviors don't feel aligned with the kind of client experience or team culture they're trying to create.
The problem is that a lot of those expectations exist entirely in the business owner's head. Then someone crosses a boundary they didn't know existed, a team member handles something differently than expected, or a client asks for something outside the normal process, and the owner is left thinking, I thought we were clear about this.
But were we?
That's why I think a How We Work document is one of the most underrated foundational documents a business can create.
What is a how we work document?
A How We Work document is exactly what it sounds like: a clear explanation of how your business works with people.
Depending on the business, that might include communication expectations, working hours, response times, meeting expectations, turnaround times, urgent requests, scope changes, decision-making, feedback, responsibilities, time off, payment expectations, or what clients and team members can expect from you.
But I don't think the best How We Work documents should start with a list of policies. They should start further upstream.
How you work should be an extension of what your business believes.
Before you can clearly define how you work, it helps to have clarity around your Mission, Vision, Values, and Boundaries. Those foundational pieces give you something to build your expectations from rather than borrowing a list of policies from someone else's business.
Mission, vision, and values can't just be words on your website
Mission, Vision, and Values work can sometimes feel like a branding exercise. You write a mission statement, choose five nice-sounding values, put them on the About page, and then rarely think about them again.
That's not how I use them.
Your mission helps establish why the business exists and the work you're actually here to do. Your vision gives you direction for what you're building. Your values help define what matters in the way you build it.
Then you have to ask: If we actually believe these things, how should they show up in the way this business operates?
This is where it gets much more practical.
One of Simply Supported's values is Relationship First. That doesn't mean saying yes to everything a client asks for. To me, protecting the relationship also means communicating clearly, establishing expectations, being honest when something isn't realistic, and addressing an issue before resentment has a chance to build.
Another philosophy I have is helping business owners move from reactive to proactive. If I want to practice that in my own business, then I need systems and expectations that make proactive work possible. I need planning, reasonable turnaround times, communication systems, and boundaries around what qualifies as urgent.
Otherwise, these are just nice phrases.
Your Mission, Vision, and Values should actually help you run your business.
A lot of business problems can be traced back to the foundation
This is something I've noticed again and again in my work with clients. When we're trying to solve a problem in the business, I can often trace at least part of it back to a lack of clarity around the Mission, Vision, Values, or Boundaries.
Maybe the owner doesn't know whether to continue offering a particular service. We can go back to the Mission and Vision and ask whether that service actually supports the business she's trying to build.
Maybe there's frustration with a team member because the owner expected them to handle something differently. We can look at the Values and ask whether we've ever translated those values into clear expectations for how the team makes decisions and works together.
Maybe a client relationship is becoming difficult because requests keep expanding, communication is happening everywhere, or everything is suddenly urgent. That's often where we discover that the boundaries were never clearly established in the first place.
Even bigger decisions can come back to this foundation. Should we take on this opportunity? Does this partnership make sense? Is this the kind of client we want to work with? Should I still be doing this myself? Is this actually how I want my business to grow?
When your foundation is clear, it doesn't magically make every business decision easy, but it gives you something to make the decision against. Your Mission reminds you what you're here to do. Your Vision tells you whether something moves you toward the business you're trying to build. Your Values help you decide how you want to get there. Your Boundaries establish what needs to be true for you, your team, and your clients along the way.
Without that clarity, you're making a lot of decisions case by case. And that's where inconsistency starts creeping in.
This is why, when a client brings me a problem, I don't always want to immediately fix the thing sitting right in front of us. Sometimes we need to go further back and ask: What have we already established about who this business is, where it's going, what matters here, and how we work?
You'd be surprised how many business questions become easier to answer once those things are actually clear.
Then there are your boundaries
This is where a lot of business owners realize they've been carrying an entire invisible rulebook.
Maybe you don't take calls on certain days. Maybe you don't respond after a certain time. Maybe you need 48 hours for something that is considered urgent. Maybe clients can't continually add requests without adjusting scope. Maybe there are decisions your team should be able to make without you. Maybe you don't want work communication happening through text messages, Instagram DMs, email, Slack, and your project management system all at once.
Those are boundaries, and boundaries aren't just about what you refuse to do. They define the conditions that allow you to do your best work.
Instead of asking, "What should my business boundaries be?" I think a better question is, "What needs to be true for me, my team, and my clients to work together well?"
That's where your boundaries start becoming specific to your business instead of a generic list of rules you found online.
This is where the how we work document comes from
Once your Mission, Vision, Values, and Boundaries are clearer, you can start translating that foundation into behavior.
If you value honest communication, what does that mean when something isn't going well? If you value family or personal time, how does that affect availability? If you value quality, what turnaround times allow you to actually provide it? If you value collaboration, what do you expect from clients during the process? If you value ownership on your team, what decisions are team members empowered to make? If you want to operate proactively, how much notice do you need before something becomes an urgent request?
Those answers start becoming How We Work.
And suddenly, you're not making up expectations every time something happens. You're creating them from a foundation you've already established.
"I thought they knew" is usually a sign something needs to be documented
I've seen this on both the client and team side of businesses: "I thought they knew they needed to tell me sooner." "I thought they knew I wasn't available then." "I thought they would just handle that." "I didn't think I needed to explain that."
Sometimes the other person absolutely should have used better judgment. But if the same kind of frustration keeps showing up, I start looking for the expectation that hasn't been clearly established.
That's one of the reasons I love documenting this work. Once an expectation is written down, you have something to point back to. Instead of creating a new rule while you're frustrated, you can say, "Here's how we handle this."
That feels very different.
A how we work document isn't just for clients
I don't see this as simply another client onboarding document. The same foundation should influence how your team works, too.
As a business grows, the owner can't be the person constantly interpreting what the business would do in every situation. Your team needs to understand the expectations, values, communication norms, and boundaries they're operating within. This becomes especially important when you want people to take more ownership.
You can't tell someone, "I want you to make more decisions without me," while keeping all of the context they need to make those decisions inside your head.
The clearer the foundation is, the easier it becomes for someone else to ask, Does this fit how we work here? That's how culture starts becoming something more tangible than a list of values.
Your how we work document will probably evolve
I don't think you create this once and declare it finished forever.
Some of the clearest boundaries I've created in my own business came from experience. Something happened, I realized there was a gap in our expectations, and I needed to clarify how we would handle it moving forward.
That's not a failure of the document. That's part of running a business.
As your services change, your team grows, your capacity shifts, and you learn more about the kinds of working relationships you want, your How We Work document should evolve with you. The difference is that now you're intentionally updating the way the business operates instead of creating rules one frustrating situation at a time.
This Is why I believe in foundation first
It's tempting to skip straight to the How We Work document. You could download a template, fill in your office hours, choose a response time, add a cancellation policy, and technically have something to give your clients.
But what are those decisions based on?
That's why I created the Foundation First Framework.
Foundation First is a self-guided, interactive workbook designed to help you start working through your Mission, Vision, Values, and Boundaries for yourself. You're not expected to already know the perfect language for all four. The workbook walks you through the process, and the included AI framework helps you work through your thoughts and begin turning them into actual statements you can use.
The goal isn't to hand you my Mission, Vision, Values, and Boundaries or tell you what yours should be. It's to help you get what has probably been floating around in your head into a clearer first version.
Because once you have that foundation, you have something you can start using.
You can look at a client problem and bring it back to your boundaries. You can look at an opportunity and compare it to your Vision. You can make a team decision through the lens of your Values. You can evaluate whether an offer still fits the Mission of the business.
And eventually, you can start answering a much bigger question:
If this is what we believe, value, want, and need—how do we actually work?
That's where a How We Work document becomes so much more useful than a generic list of policies.
Frequently Asked Questions About How We Work Documents
What should be included in a How We Work document?
It depends on your business, which is why I don't love treating it like a generic template. It may include communication channels, availability, response times, meetings, turnaround times, urgent requests, scope changes, responsibilities, feedback, payment expectations, time off, and other guidelines that affect how clients or team members work with you. The important part is that those expectations actually reflect your business rather than someone else's list of policies.
Is a How We Work document the same as a contract?
No. Your contract is where your legal terms and obligations live. A How We Work document explains the practical side of the relationship: what working together actually looks like day to day. There may be some overlap in topics, but they serve different purposes.
Should clients receive a How We Work document?
I think it's incredibly valuable as part of onboarding because it establishes expectations before you're trying to correct them. Clients know how to communicate, what they can expect from you, what you need from them, and how different situations will be handled.
How do Mission, Vision, Values, and Boundaries actually help with day-to-day decisions?
They give you a filter. When you're considering an opportunity, changing an offer, addressing a team issue, establishing a policy, or responding to a client request, you can bring the decision back to what you've already established about the business. Does this support our Mission? Does it move us toward our Vision? Does it align with our Values? Does it respect our Boundaries? Those questions can answer a surprising number of the smaller questions that come up while running a business.
What if I don't have a Mission, Vision, Values, or business boundaries yet?
You don't have to have the perfect answers before you start. That's exactly why I created the Foundation First Framework. It's a self-guided interactive workbook that walks you through creating a starting version of each of these foundational pieces, with an AI framework included to help you think through and develop your statements.
Before you build how you work, get clear on why you work that way
If you're reading this realizing that a lot of your business expectations still live in your head, don't start by trying to write the perfect How We Work document.
Start with the foundation underneath it.
The Foundation First Framework gives you a self-guided place to work through your Mission, Vision, Values, and Boundaries and begin creating statements that actually reflect the business you're building. You'll work through the interactive workbook at your own pace, with my AI framework there to help you turn your thoughts into something clearer and usable.
It won't make every business decision for you. But it will give you something incredibly valuable to start making those decisions from.
About the Author
Leesha Woolery | Director of Operations + Founder of Simply Supported
Leesha Woolery is the founder of Simply Supported, a strategy-first operations agency helping women-led businesses create the strategy, structure, and support they need to grow intentionally. As a Certified Director of Operations, Leesha helps business owners take the expectations, values, boundaries, and processes living in their heads and turn them into clearer foundations for how their businesses actually operate.
Her work is rooted in the belief that sustainable growth starts with alignment first—creating businesses that support the owner's goals, capacity, team, clients, and life before adding more systems for the sake of growth.
