Working Relationships At Work

I want to get onto the topic of relationships at work. This is a universal topic, as it is difficult to think of any job that doesn’t involve some sort of relationship. Work on your own? You will still have customers. Work in a back office so you don’t meet customers? You still have colleagues and a boss. However much you protest, you have relationships at work and those relationships will influence your enjoyment and success.

How many times have you heard “This job would be great if it wasn’t for my boss/the customers/my colleagues/the suppliers/my staff, etc.” If there is one thing that can change a good day into a bad day or a bad day into a good day, it is an interaction with another human being (despite appearances and attitudes, they are still human!)

I used to run an IT help desk, and I had some very talented and technical people who were great at solving problems but not so great at dealing with people. For some people, their job gives them the perceived right to be superior and condescending to the people they deal with. Now if you had the choice of helping people solve their problem and making them feel bad about it, or helping them and making them feel good about the interaction, which would you choose?

One of the problems in today’s working world is that people are so driven by targets and measures, they miss the opportunity to enjoy the pleasure of human contact. If I go into a shop, I don’t want to be pounced upon by someone desperate to make their monthly quota of extended warranty sales, I want to speak to someone who wants me to make the right decision and will help me make it. Every encounter is an opportunity to make a positive impact on another human being. How many of those opportunities did you take yesterday, and how many will you take today? If you only take one of those opportunities, you will have made a difference to someone.

As a simple exercise, list five people you are likely to interact with over the next few days. Rate the state of your relationship on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being dreadful and 10 being fantastic. Then use the same scale to rate where you would like that relationship to be. Notice any gaps? Ask yourself what it would take for you to bridge this gap and then make that difference. You will be glad of the effort.