Getting along well with your co-workers is key to long term workplace happiness. Here are some ways to build better relationships with you office mates.
Starting a new job is sort of like the first day of high school all over again. You spend hours deciding what to wear to make the best impression and get nervous when you arrive at work. The first few weeks of a new job is a time to get to know your co-workers, learn how to do the job and it gives everyone in the office time to decide where you are going to fit in.
Once you get accustomed to your new office, it is still important to keep building strong relationships with your co-workers. They are going to be the people who can help you with a project when you are in over your head, back you up when you take a risk and even give you a recommendation when you eventually apply for another job.
Here are a few easy ways to build stronger relationships with your co-workers:
- Greet everyone in the morning – If you're not a morning person, this might take a bit of practice, but when you arrive in the morning, give a happy greeting to your co-workers. Your positive attitude is contagious and it will help everyone start the day on the right foot.
- Practice making small talk – For most of us, being a good conversationalist takes work. Although there are some people who seem to have a natural knack for it, it is a learned skill. If you aren't so good at making small talk, start off by asking questions. When you show a genuine interest in the other person, they feel important and valued.
- Join in office activities – If a group from the office is planning to do a volunteer project, or they have a softball team make participating a priority. Spending time with your co-workers outside of the office will lay the foundation for a real friendship.
- Don't take teasing personally – Depending on how sensitive you are, the good-natured teasing that happens often in the office environment can feel like personal attacks. Unless the joking and kidding crosses the line, just let it go and keep a sense of humor.
- Ask for advice on work projects – People love to give advice, almost as much as they love to be helpful. So let them. Ask your co-workers for their opinion on a project you are working on. Feel free to not take the advice, but if you do, be sure to give them credit and say that their idea made all of the difference. It is amazing how much just a little bit of praise can mean to someone.
What do you do to make your co-workers feel important? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for BusinessWorkForceBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
Become a member to take advantage of more features, like commenting and voting.
Register or sign in today!