5 Key Ways to Build Work Relationships
Believe it or not you can either build or destroy your career through your actions or the behaviors, you exhibit to your colleagues. Irrespective of how educated you are, your level of experience or even the title you hold at the company. Effective work relations are so important that they build the foundation of your career. Imagine putting up a house without a firm foundation? Truth be told with time the entire house will go down. In the same way, your colleagues play a vital role in your foundation career wise. The following are ways of establishing work relations: -
1. Treating Others with Respect
Learn treat others with respect and solve arising issues amicably in order to build good relations at work, because when you disrespect others the message gets home loud and clear. Try to avoid using nasty words, being sarcastic or even shouting at others because it lowers their self-esteem. Such behavior will make other people in the office avoid you like plague creating bad blood between you and them. Always try to keep your cool even when you feel things are getting out of hand. If you feel someone is not doing their work right why not have a one on one conversation with them? Get to the root cause of the problem by finding a lasting solution. If someone feels overwhelmed by the work that has been assigned to him or her creating unnecessary pressure, try and offer a helping hand or ask others to assist them, by so doing you will have solved a huge chunk of the problem. In case there is a personal problem between the two of you try and sort it out with the party involved, so that such issues don’t trickle down to your work.
2. Share Credit Accomplishments, Ideas & Gratitude
Anytime you are awarded or even recognized for good work by your bosses, please bear in mind that you wouldn’t have done it without the help of others. Remember there is a team behind your success some brought their ideas on board, while others gave a helping hand in one way or another, to get the final outcome. Thank them and recognize their efforts, remember to be specific on the role that each of them played. Let other people be part of your success so that you can enjoy and build work relations as a team. On the contrary, share defect, blame and failure in equal measure. Try as much as possible to avoid pointing fingers at others throwing them under the bus as this will create enmity between you and them. In such cases find amicable ways to solve such issues among yourselves before they escalate further.
3. Appreciate Everyone
It’s important to appreciate everyone who works with you, from your line manager to the person who cleans your sitting space and wipes your desk every morning. It won’t break a bone to say hi and wish him or her a good day, most importantly address them by name. This gesture shows that you acknowledge their presence. After all, everyone would like to be recognized and appreciated for their work.
Appreciate the presence of those who are around you by greeting them with a smile on your face. This a powerful tool in building your relationship with others. It is equally important to build relations with those working in other departments, try as much as possible to understand what they do and the challenges they face. Always bear in mind that each department has different goals with different challenges. Therefore, instead of blaming them, when there is a problem find a solution.
4. Learn to Listen and Observe
Practice the art of mindful listening because it will make others respond better to what you want to say. By listening to others you will also understand more about them winning their confidence. Believe it or not, with time your colleagues will develop trust in you. it’s also important to choose what to listen to because not everything is worth your attention, office politics may land you into hot soup. Always try and sieve out what your colleagues tell you, put into practice what you feel is important and discard the rest. Remember to apportion some time in your busy schedule to meet and talk to your colleagues. During your free time instead of sitting on your desk trying to chat, engaging other people at the office great them politely and try to have a conversation with them. By so doing you, will learn a lot build work relations and learn new stuff about the organization.
5. Build Networks
It is essential that you build networks with the people you work with, apart from your colleagues strive to build good relations with your clients, managers and mentors. These relationships act as a strong pillar to your success. Focus on investing in people around you now to build your career relationships in future. Who knows? such relationships may lead to a promotion, pay rise, job satisfaction or even a referral to your next job. Strive to leave a mark when you leave a certain place for greener pastures or for any reason whatsoever. Remember not to burn bridges you may actually need the same people you left behind in one way or another. Therefore, keeping in touch with one or two people even when you have already left the organization is very important.
In summary if you follow the key points mentioned above, you will definitely play well with your colleagues, build effective relationships, and your superiors will believe that you are in the same team with them.
