Thriving in the workplace is about more than just building top-notch skills and solid experience. It’s also about successfully building a positive relationship with your coworkers. Working well with your co-workers improves your productivity and makes work a positive experience, contributing to your long-term happiness instead of tearing it down.
To start building a stronger relationship with your team, consider the following tips:
- Share What You Learn.
Your viewpoints, analysis, and experience have value. Sharing them builds connections between you and your co-workers. It also broadens your perspective and that of your co-workers, helping you both generate creative and comprehensive solutions to problems. When you find valuable information, pass it along. - Collaborate.
Brainstorming in a group is often more valuable than working alone. While it’s tempting to simply put your head down and drive through a project, collaborating with someone else lightens the load and gives you a valuable “sounding board” for your analysis and conclusions. - Review Documents for One Another.
Writer’s block happens to everyone. If you’ve been staring at the same document for an hour and just can’t get past that one awkward sentence, it’s time to find help – or, when a coworker is in the same boat; it’s time to offer help. Set up a team relationship for document editing and review to make both your work and that of your coworker stronger. - Go to Happy Hour.
Your office’s happy hours don’t have to involve alcohol or bars, but they should be regularly scheduled and give coworkers a place to unwind that isn’t the office. Most of the time, happy hour will ignore business completely, and that is a healthy use for free time. But when a problem is particularly pressing, bringing it up in a comfortable environment away from the office can generate ideas that differ from those inspired by the office – with great results. - Get to Know Your Coworkers.
Your coworkers are fellow professionals with strong backgrounds, experience, and skills. But they’re also human beings, with a unique set of experiences and traits. Get to know your coworkers as people so you know how to approach them, how to communicate with them effectively, and how they operate on a day to day basis.
At ABA Search, we put our 25 years’ of experience to work finding you the next step on your career ladder. Contact us to see how we can help you today!