If you think about it, you see your co-workers more often than you do most of your family or friends. These are people you interact with on a daily basis. You work on projects that are important to the growth of both the company you work for and as well as your career. It is not enough to work in a silo and only communicate with your teammates when you need something. For any team to achieve sustained success, team members must have strong relationships with each other.
What defines a strong workplace relationship can be tricky. Some employees are hesitant to become friends with co-workers in an attempt to keep their relationships professional. Understandably, you may choose to refrain from attending happy hours or accepting Facebook friend requests from your co-workers. However, it’s essential that you still interact with and get to know them on a personal level. Today, we are going to cover how to build strong professional relationships with your co-workers.
Ask Non-Work Related Questions
The daily grind of our jobs often has us running from one task to another. We find ourselves only talking to our co-workers when we need something. Once your question has been answered, and we receive the information we came for, we go back into our proverbial holes and continue working. While it might not be intentional, some of your co-workers may get offended by this behavior and feel you only reach out when you need something.
If you are contacting a co-worker that you do not speak to often, start the conversation by asking a non-work question. It could be as simple as asking about their weekend or how their family is doing. If you constantly talk to a specific co-worker, make it a point to learn something about them, such as where they live, how many kids they have, or a hobby they have. When you are waiting for a meeting to start, instead of using your phone, strike up a conversation with someone who showed up early as well.
Offer Your Help
We often get so busy doing our work that we refrain from doing anything outside our original job description. When we see someone else making a mistake, we may be hesitant to jump in and help. If anything we are more likely to get frustrated when we see something go wrong and proclaim that it’s not our job to fix someone else’s missteps. This type of attitude can damage relationships and impede the progress of one or several projects.
As an employee, your top priority should be what is best for the company. Therefore, you should try your best to make sure none of your co-workers fail or fall too far behind. For example, if you see a process that is clearly broken, you should step in and provide suggestions to fix it. If you have the experience and knowledge necessary to provide a solution, you should never hold back just because it is technically someone else’s responsibility.
Ask For Help
Employees are often hesitant to ask for help when they are struggling with a task or project. They see asking for help as a sign of weakness. They are afraid that if they admit they need assistance, their boss will lose trust in their abilities and no longer assign them high profile tasks or projects. The result is that employees make costly mistakes that could have been avoided. These types of errors impact the entire team and can lead to strained relationships.
There is no shame in asking a co-worker for help. The first step is to present the problem and confirm if they can help you. Then, schedule a time to meet that is convenient for that co-worker, so they do not need to stop what they were initially doing. At your meeting, present the problem and the solutions you have already used. This shows you are respectful of your co-worker’s time and care more about the team’s success than your own ego and pride.
Show Your Appreciation
We have already established that the daily grind has us moving very quickly and leaves little time for anything else. The problem is that we frequently take our co-workers for granted. Yes, they are technically “doing their job” when they help you, but it is still nice to be appreciated. If someone is delivering quality work that is making your job more manageable, they should be recognized for it.
Your weekly team meeting is the perfect opportunity to congratulate a co-worker for a job well done. If you have been working on a large and complex project, send a separate email when it is complete thanking your co-worker for all of their hard work. If you want to recognize an employee from a different team, you can send their supervisor a note and inform them how their employee’s hard work has benefited you and your team.
Be An Advocate for Improvement
In the workplace and life, it’s easy to look the other way when someone is getting in trouble for something. We justify this behavior by saying it isn’t our fault and that we have enough on our plates. We let people take the fall because we do not want to risk getting in trouble ourselves. The problem is that if you see someone getting unfairly blamed, it’s in our power to advocate on their behalf.
For example, if someone is being blamed for a mistake, but you know it’s not their fault, you should be empowered to bring awareness to the situation. If you believe a broken system or process is to blame, then it’s your responsibility to call attention to it, so that it can be fixed. Schedule a meeting with upper management to discuss ways of improvement.
Conclusion
Your co-workers may not be your friends, but they are still important people in your life. They are the people you interact with every day as you all work towards a common goal of pushing your company forward. It is essential to put the time and effort into connecting with them on a personal level, making sure they feel appreciated, and building strong relationships that will last for years to come.
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If team communications and strong workplace culture are important to you, please send us a note at contact@therglpgroup.com and set up your FREE introductory call today.
