Workplace relationships are important. If you’re going to spend roughly eight hours a day, five days a week, with a set group of people, it’s a good idea to do what you can to get on with them. Not only will this make your day to day life a lot easier and more pleasant, but it can also help you to be much more productive as a team. Here are a few tips that you might like to try out that should help you to build and maintain good professional relationships.
Keep Things Professional
Of course, it’s important to highlight that improving your relationship with your colleagues is generally best to be kept at a professional basis. Mixing close personal friendships or intimate relationships with work can become difficult, confusing, complicated or – if the level of closeness you’re attempting isn’t requited – even a case for workplace problems and HR intervention. Sure, you may want to share some personal details or other information with the people you spend eight hours with each weekday, but make sure to keep things professional and set boundaries that everyone is comfortable with.
Improve Your Communication Skills
You’re going to talk to your colleagues a lot. So, it’s important to work on your communication skills and ensure that you’re both listening well and communicating yourself well. Open and clear communication can help you to get on better, as well as proving productive in terms of communicating work related tasks and goals. Make sure that you listen to your colleagues. Think before you speak. Maintain a respectful and friendly tone for everyone you come into contact with. Be polite. Be considerate.
Practice Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is important for any relationship. From personal relationships to professional relationships in the workplace. It can help you to determine how others are feeling and how you should act in order to help them feel at ease. You can learn more about this through STL Training.
Take Responsibility
A lot of problems between people at work develop because people fail to take responsibility for their own actions or mistakes. Most people are happy to pass the book when they are pulled up on poor results or something going wrong. People will blame one another for issues or mistakes. But it’s important to be open and honest about things that haven’t gone as planned and to acknowledge your part in it. Problems rarely occur due to one person. If they do, this will become clear over time. However, if there is shared responsibility, it’s important to hold yourself accountable and hold your hands up for it. This will cause fewer tensions in the workplace.
Avoid Gossip
Offices and other workplaces tend to be hotbeds for gossip. People will talk about one another’s situations and character, if only to provide themselves with entertainment and something to pass the time. But it is important to stay out of office gossip wherever possible. Think about how rumours and the sharing of personal information can impact the person being spoken about. They could grow upset or feel secluded or targeted. Also bear in mind that even true situations are probably none of your business and you would be better off steering clear of it. Avoiding gossip can help you to build better relationships with colleagues rather than building walls.
Show Appreciation
In workplaces, few people work entirely in isolation from everyone else. Chances are, there are plenty of times that different people complete tasks or help to communally get a project up and running or to hit a target or goal. It’s important that you show appreciation for other people’s efforts – especially if they have gone above and beyond to help you. This will ensure that they feel appreciated and will help to build bonds between you.
Suggest Team Building Activities
If your workplace doesn’t currently engage with team building activities, why not suggest some? Team building can really help to break the ice between people who don’t work together often, as well as strengthening bonds between those who do. It’s a great opportunity to get to know people’s characters and roles and to let others get to know you a little. There are all sorts of team building activities out there, from hour long activities to full days of workshops and other activities.
As you can see, there are plenty of different things you can do to build stronger and more professional working relationships with your colleagues. Hopefully, one or two of the suggestions can be implemented in your workplace and will prove beneficial – not only for yourself but for everyone you come into contact with too!
