Your relationship with your supervisor, peers and staff have a major impact on motivation, performance and engagement at work and ultimately could affect whether you decide to change jobs or stay where you are. If you’re unhappy in your current job it might be that improving your work relationships can help improve things for you.
Building stronger relationships with your work colleagues will make you happier and have a positive impact on the people who work around you. The majority of us spend more time with our colleagues at work than we do with our families at home, so building positive relationships is worth the effort!
Here are a few tips:
- Our top tip for improving your relationships at work is to make time to get to know one another, have fun and bond over shared experiences. This may sound obvious, but many people don’t take the time to look up from their work to do this. If it is not possible during work hours, try to meet outside of the office, such as for coffee before or after work. If possible, organise time away from the office for your entire team. It could be as simple as regularly scheduled Friday afternoon lunches at the local pub or as wacky as a day out learning circus skills!
- Build trust and lean on one another for support when needed. Going through a rough period together can be an incredibly bonding experience. For example, if you are facing a department re-organisation, talk to your colleague about your anxieties and fears. They may be able to offer some advice, but most importantly a listening ear.
- Understand and respect your personality similarities and differences. When your personalities are similar, chances are that you will understand one another easily. However, it is more often the case that your team members come with a wide variety of perspectives and approaches, and it can be fun to uncover those differences. PersonaBubble’s personality test allows you to uncover useful insights about your own personality as well as compare that with others.
- Finally, be flexible and willing to change your approach. For example, if you are extroverted and like to speak out and make key decisions during meetings, recognize that your colleagues who are more introverted will appreciate more time to reflect after the meeting before coming to a conclusion. Instead of insisting that you resolve everything during the meeting, try to give them the time they need to think through an issue before expecting an answer.
Through mutual understanding, investing time to get to know one another personally and building trust, you can dramatically improve your motivation and performance, as well as have a bit more fun at work, too!
How similar are you and your colleagues? Invite them to PersonaBubble and compare personalities to find out how to make the most your differences and similarities. Let us know what you discover in the comments section below.
