Building Relationships 2020

Relationships 2020 EWP Poster.jpg

Relationships in the workplace

Relationships in the workplace are the interactions you have with your colleagues. When you have effective relationships with other professionals and team members, you are more likely to enjoy your day-to-day tasks. Building relationships in the workplace is also important for career success. Not only do relationships with colleagues in the workplace assist with networking, but they can also offer you the guidance and encouragement you need to succeed in your role. Workplace relationships offer the following benefits:

  • Increased satisfaction with your career

  • Increased comfort with presentations and team meetings

  • Improved productivity for all team members

  • Moral support and assistance with meeting difficult timelines

  • Higher retention rates

Elements of good workplace relationships

Understanding the elements of a good workplace relationship can assist you in evaluating your own relationships and identifying the areas in which you want to improve. Good workplace relationships tend to have the following characteristics:

  • Trust: The ability to trust your co-workers and the feeling that you can rely on them, is an important characteristic when building a workplace relationship.

  • Acceptance: Acceptance and understanding of one another and your role in the workplace relationship is important.

  • Team member: Individuals who work well in a team setting, doing their fair share of the work and giving credit when it is due, tend to have stronger relationships.

  • Open communication: Open communication is crucial to any relationship, including a workplace one. Encouraging open communication, asking questions and getting to know your co-workers is one of the first steps toward good working relationships.

5 Tips for building relationships at work

You can’t force employees to become friends, but you may be able to promote building relationships at work with these five tips.

1. Build relationships from the start

New hires or employees new to the workforce may have a more difficult time forming relationships with their co-workers.

You can support work relationship building by introducing new employees to your current workers during new hire onboarding. Delegate new hire training to one or more of your current employees. Encourage your new hire to ask one of their co-workers if they have any questions about their duties.

2. Encourage interdepartmental communication

You can’t expect employees to build relationships if they don’t get the chance to communicate. Creating teamwork opportunities can help bring employees together, but communication can be difficult if you have multiple departments.

Encourage interdepartmental communication by meeting regularly with your staff. That way, different departments or employees can discuss projects they are working on.

After meetings, employees should continue to collaborate with their co-workers, even if they are in separate departments. An employee in one department might be able to provide valuable information to another.

3. Increase socialization opportunities at work

When employees lead busy lives, they may not have the time or energy to focus on building relationships at work.

Rather than eating lunch together, your employees might work through their break to get more tasks done. And instead of meeting for coffee after work, your employees might head home to take care of their families.

To balance the busy lives your employees lead, consider hosting social events during work hours. You can host holiday parties, monthly team lunches, or achievement celebrations. That way, employees can step away from their desks and build relationships with their co-workers.

4. Hold in-person training and team-building sessions

Continual training opportunities help develop your employees’ skills, knowledge, and abilities. In-person training sessions can be great for building effective work relationships.

Team-building activities, like a volunteer opportunity or a fun scavenger hunt, can also be helpful to growing healthy work relationships.

Consider hosting a monthly or quarterly training or team-building meeting. That way, employees can touch base with one another, get to know new hires, and grow their strengths.

5. Start a wellness committee

A Wellness committee can help build relationships among employees while boosting staff morale. Employee Representatives can be chosen to champion your Employee Wellness Programme. In this way Employees will have a voice and they can be encouraged to take an active role in ensuring wellness and productivity in the workplace. 

Source:

https://smallbusiness.patriotsoftware.com/building-relationships-work-5-tips/

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-build-relationships

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