One of the Gallup’s Q12 questions is whether you have a best friend at work. At first glance, this seems like a strange question to have risen to the top 12 questions to ask, but Gallup has proven that having a best friend at work correlates with retention, engagement and profit generation.
Meaningful relationships at work build trust. Where you find trust, you will also find accountability. Smart employers will create a work environment that nurtures relationship building. Leadership style is the most critical in creating the right environment. A participative style that engages the team members and values everyone’s input is more likely to create deeper relationships than a top-down directive leadership style.
The overall company culture will clearly impact the work environment. If the culture is very fast paced and task oriented, and relationship building is not valued, the employees will feel discouraged to take any time away from their tasks to get to know their coworkers. This will make the relationships transactional. A sign of a task oriented culture may be that the employees prefer to send a thread of e-mails instead of simply picking up the phone to resolve an issue.
Another organizational mechanism that may complicate trust and relationship building is the forced ranking process. By its nature, it has a risk of promoting an individualistic and competitive culture, unless the process is managed with care, and the managers are highly trained about the performance standards and knowledgeable about potential rating biases.
To build more relationships, the company may just create more opportunities to do so. It can happen in team meetings, happy hours or more elaborate team building events. Eventually, it boils down to a chain of small moments when people get to know and trust each other. They come out of their cubicles, or look around in their production lines.
At the personal level, most of us spend more time at work than at home. It should be time that we enjoy, with people whom we appreciate. Challenge yourself to find out one new unique thing about your coworker. Make a real connection.
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SVPGMGDX8TEC
Very well written Lissa. All relationships are built upon “connection points.” Finding and developing these connections allow managers and company leaders to bond with their community of employees. I like the idea of social opportunities in the workplace and “small moments.” Games, lunch movies, book clubs, recreation teams, and wellness programs allow the workforce to identify new connection points and as a result, closer relationships.
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