How to Develop Effective Work Relationships

How to Develop Effective Work RelationshipsHow to Develop Effective Work RelationshipsYou can damage your career and work relationships by the actions you take and the behaviors you exhibit at work. No matter your education, your experience, or your title, if you cant play well with others, you will never accomplish your work mission. Effective interpersonal work relationships form the cornerstone of success and satisfaction with your job and your career. How important are effective work relationships? They form the basis for promotional opportunities, pay increases, goal accomplishment, and job satisfaction. The Gallup organization studied indicators of work satisfaction. They found that whether you have a best friend at work was one of the twelve key questions asked of employees that predicted job satisfaction. Without a friend at work, work satisfaction deteriorates. What Happens When You Dont Play Well With Others? A supervisor who worked in a several-hundred-person company q uickly earned a reputation for leid playing well with others. He collected data and used the data to find fault, place blame, and make other employees look bad. He enjoyed identifying problems and problem patterns, but he rarely suggested solutions. He bugged his supervisor weekly for a bigger title and more money so that he could tell the other employees what to do. When he announced that he was job hunting, not a single employee suggested that the company take action to convince him to stay. He had burned his bridges all along the way. And no one will have a good word to say about him when an employer who is checking references comes their way. The Top 7 Ways to Play Well With Others at Work These are the top seven ways you can play well with others at work. They form the basis for building effective interpersonal work relationships. These are the actions you want to take to create a positive, empowering, motivational work environment for people 1. Bring Suggested Solutions to Problems to the Meeting Table Some employees spend an inordinate amount of time identifying problems. Honestly? Thats the easy part. Thoughtful solutions are the challenge that will earn respect and admiration from co-workers and bosses. Your willingness to defend your solution until a better or improved approach is decided on by the team is also a plus. 2. Dont Ever Play the Blame Game You alienate coworkers, supervisors, and reporting staff. Yes, you may need to identify who was involved in a problem. You may even ask the Dr. W. Edwards Deming recommended question what about the work system caused the employee to fail? But saying that its not my fault and publicly identifying and blaming others for failures will earn you enemies. Throwing other employees under the bus, either privately or publicly, will also create enemies. These enemies will, in turn, help you to fail. You do need allies at work. Remember this if you want to accomplish your goals and dreams. 3. Your Verbal and N onverbal Communication Matters If you talk down to another employee, use sarcasm, or sound nasty, the other employee hears you. We are all radar machines that constantly scope out our environment. When you talk to another employee with a lack of respect, the message comes through loudly and clearly. In one organization, a high-level manager once asked this question, I know you dont think I should scream at my employees. But sometimes, they make me so mad. When is it ever appropriate for me to scream at the employees? The answer? Never, of course, if respect for people is a hallmark of your organization- which it should be, and it is in massively successful companies. 4. Never Blind Side a Co-worker, Boss, or Reporting Staff Person If the first time a coworker hears about a problem is in a staff meeting or from an email sent to his supervisor, you have blindsided the coworker. Always discuss problems first, with the people directly involved who own the work system. Also called ambush ing your coworkers, you will never build effective work alliances unless your coworkers trust you. And without alliances, you will never accomplish the fruchtwein important goals for your job and career. You cannot do it alone, so treat your coworkers as you expect them to treat you. 5. Keep Your Commitments In an organization, work is interconnected. If you fail to meet deadlines and commitments, you affect the work of other employees. Always keep commitments, and if you cant, make sure all affected employees know what happened. Provide a new due date and make every possible effort to honor the new deadline. It is not okay for an organization to just quietly allow deadlines to slip by. Your coworkers, even if they fail to confront you, will think less of you and disrespect your actions. And, no, dont think even for a second that they didnt notice that the deadline passed. You insult them if you even consider this possibility. 6. Share Credit for Accomplishments, Ideas, and Contribu tions How often do you accomplish a goal or complete a project with no help from others? If you are a manager, how many of the great ideas you promote were contributed by staff members? Take the time, and expend the energy, to thank, reward, recognize and specify contributions of the people who help you succeed. It is a no-fail approach to building effective work relationships. Share credit deflect blame and failure. 7. Help Other Employees Find Their Greatness Every employee in your organization has talents, skills, and experience. If you can help fellow employees harness their best abilities, you benefit the organization immeasurably. The growth of individual employees benefits the whole. Compliment, praise, and notice their contributions. You dont have to be a manager to help create a positive, motivating environment for employees. In this environment, employees do find and contribute their greatness. They will always remember that you were part of bringing it out of them. Those interpersonal work relationships are cherished. If you regularly carry out these seven actions, you will play well with others and build effective interpersonal work relationships. Coworkers will value you as a colleague. Bosses will believe that you play on the right team- with them. Youll accomplish your work goals, and you may even experience fun, recognition, and personal motivation. And how can work get any better than that?