When you are in an office, it is important that you have some great company, in terms of colleagues else the hours will pass like days and even worse than that.
You are spending 8-9 hours there and throughout this period, if you are not able to speak to someone who is friendly enough to revert back with a reply or participate in a conversation, then the time spend there will be more like spending time in hell.
The sad part is that, in every office you will find at least one or two people who behaves that way and is not interested in making friends in office.
When you are working in a team, then it is inevitable that you work with each other and have fun no matter how much grilling the day is.
When the morale of the team is high, the productivity increases automatically which ultimately leads to the meeting of the goals and objectives of the organization to a broader spectrum.
When the co – worker has become a pain for you, then you will not feel like going to work, your productivity will hamper and you will not be able to concentrate on the work.
So, that means you will have missed deadlines which will affect you and your company’s reputation. What to do, if some of your colleagues are ruining the work environment?
Here are some tips that will help you develop good working relationships with your colleagues.
Developing good working relationships:
If you are looking forward to gel with your colleagues better, then below are some tips on how to establish good working relationships with colleagues which you will surely find helpful.
1. Start your day with a friendly greeting:
You don’t need to go over the top, but a smile and a hello will do the trick. When you are passing by the hallway and see someone approaching, then it will be good to greet the person with a ‘hi’ or a ‘hello’.
This is one of the common courtesy that you must have and it will pretty much put you across as a friendly person.
You will see that others have started to reciprocate the same thing. Therefore, a friendly greeting is much like the oil, which keeps the cooperation engine running just fine.
2. Include teamwork in the performance appraisal:
If you don’t make the employees understand how much emphasis you give on the teamwork, then they will not take it seriously at all.
They will prefer to go their own ways and won’t communicate properly with the team members.
But, in order to change the scenario you will have to take the initiative and prioritize the teamwork. It will definitely enhance the bonding between the team members.
3. Involve supervisor in a positive manner:
When you feel that you have tried doing everything possible without any success then you can seek the help of your supervisor to improve the condition.
You don’t have to bitch about how bad your team member is and how he is making your life miserable, instead don the positive cap.
Ask your supervisor, how you can improve the working relationship with your colleagues and bring in a positive change in the team dynamics.
You will be appreciated for taking the initiative of improving the team coordination and it will also put you in the good books of your supervisor as well.
4. Help co-workers outside the job:
It is important that you help your co-workers outside the periphery of office. You will be rewarded for that by your colleagues and they will start seeing you in a new light.
5. Show your co-workers the brighter side of the picture:
If there is this someone, who is making each day tough for you, then you will have to talk to him directly.
Make him understand that by acting difficult, he is actually ruining the whole environment.
Not only that, it is also affecting the work of both which will not go down well with top management at all.
Therefore, it will be a wise decision for both of you to maintain a healthy working relation without making life miserable for each other at the office.
6. Revert back promptly:
When you are not at your desk, then it might happen that you have been called a few times or someone has sent you emails.
Go through them and start replying back to every call and emails on a priority basis.
These are some of the common office etiquettes and ignoring this will send out a wrong signal to your colleagues.
7. Has a positive relationship with your colleague:
Honesty is the base of any relationship, therefore, it is important that you maintain that with your colleagues as well.
When your colleague is asking something that you don’t have any clue about, then it is better that you tell him upright that you do not have answers to his question.
If you are worried that, it will make him feel bad then fret not, he will understand. But, then again, you can provide him with names that will be able to assist him in his work.
Moreover, if you have committed some mistake which has taken a toll on the team, then speak out to the team members and you will see how they come to your rescue.
8. Don’t cross that line:
In an organization, there are people from all across having different sensibilities and cultural background.
As a colleague, you must not cross that thin line where it might not get down well with your colleague.
Even if you have any communication issue, where you are not able to understand the way he is speaking, then tell him that without making fun of him.
Respect others and the way they speak or carry themselves because it is very much important for a healthy relationship.
9. Communication strategy:
If you are looking forward to have an effective communication with your colleague, then you will have to strategize your communication.
It is not that hard as it sounds to be, because here you will just have to make sure that you know what medium of communication is loved by others.
You might find someone enjoys face to face conversation more than talking on the phone and leaving a message, then there are some who loves documentation of every official conversation, so for them you have to send an email.
If you see someone is available on the instant messaging all the time and prefers messages on there, then leave him a message out there and see how he complete his job. It is very important that you have an idea about all of this; otherwise, it might become difficult for you.
10. Look for the answer yourself before asking:
Don’t make a fool out of yourself by asking something which is readily available. Before you raise your hand to ask something, look up for the information yourself and only if you are not able to get it, then seek some help.
Do your homework well on the subject and then when you ask questions, your effort will be visible and will also put you in good light as it will also show that you have done your research before coming up with a question.
11. Venting at work is not appreciated:
At one point or the other, we all have complained about how our job sucks. But, doing that sitting right in the office is not appreciated at all.
Venting won’t take you anywhere, instead it will make things worse and it is like a contagious disease which will soon get caught up with everybody and will ruin the whole working environment.
12. Teamwork earning your rewards:
The management can announce some kinds of rewards for the best teamwork around the office.
In order to get the award of ‘Team player of the month’ and enjoy some really good benefits, employees will definitely start working on their skills thus improving the team environment.
13. Appreciate others:
Appreciating others and respecting others are important, therefore, starting from your boss to the cleaner, if you see that someone has done a good job, appreciate that.
14. Take a break, know each other well:
When you don’t know the person, it becomes even tougher to adjust with them. In order to know each other well, it is best to go out with them after office hours or take breaks together so that you can spend some time together and know each other well.
If you are a manager and in your team you have seen two colleagues snapping out at each other on every single moment, then you can take the onus on yourself and invite them over for a lunch.
Chat with them and try to get to the bottom of the issue and ask them to clear it out as matured professionals rather than fighting like school kids.
When you will start talking to each other and explore new things about each other, you will get to see there is something common in both of you which you can cash upon.
15. Explain the cause rather than blaming it on others:
There are situation when you are answerable to management, even when you were not responsible for the occurrence.
What do you do in a situation like this?
Bail yourself out by saying that so and so is responsible?
No, that wouldn’t be a great idea instead try to explain the situation as per your information and then tell the management that as far as you know this is the reason why it happened, but the concerned person will be able to give you detailed information about the occurrence.
This way you are not throwing your colleague directly into the fire and he will definitely appreciate your effort.
16. Be cautious about what you do on Facebook:
All of us are on Facebook, so when some of our colleagues forward friend request, we readily accept.
But, while doing so you must remember that now they will also have a look at your life and friends.
They will know what you did last weekend with all your friends due to the images uploaded by your friends, who have tagged you in their photos.
So, be careful about that because we all know that how harmful it can be showing off the wild side of yours to the people who are working in the same organization.
It is better that you keep them restricted to your LinkedIn account only.
Even avoid sharing any confidential information about the organization because one thing is for sure, you definitely do not want to land yourself up in any kind of trouble because of your slip of the tongue.
17. Stay positive:
It is important that you stay positive and influence other people with your positive energy as well.
This will help you initiate healthy conversation with your coworkers and they will also enjoy your company. Positive vibes always initiate conversation and people will know that you are approachable.
18. Solve other people’s misery:
If possible, then try to help out your colleague from their misery. Sometimes, they act difficult because they must be going through difficult times and they are not able to share it with anybody.
If they have some personal problem, then it might happen that your help will not be accepted because you are not known to that person.
But, if the problem is professional like he doesn’t have much knowledge about the work you are doing, then you can help him out by providing him enough guidance to work smoothly.
While doing so, you must always remember that it should not be like a favor to him instead train him like a friend. They will appreciate your gesture and will start thinking of you in a different light altogether.
19. Respect co-workers:
When you are working in an office, you will have people around you who have completely different opinions than that of you.
You have to respect their opinion, different work habit as well as their beliefs otherwise it might cause a big tiff between you and your co- workers.
20. Know their favorites:
You will be working with your co-workers day in and day out, therefore, it is very important that you know their interests like what their favorite music or movie is.
It will help you in sharing a comfortable relation with them. The common interest will initiate conversation which will strengthen the bond even better.
21. Office outings are good:
There are times when your office arranges outing for the employees. Some feel that they are a waste of time, but if you look deeper you will know that actually they are a great place to know your colleagues.
In an outing you are not bound by some kinds of rules and regulations, so you are free to have fun with your colleagues. Make sure that you participate in them.
22. Reciprocate the feelings:
In case you see someone is need of your help then you go ahead and help them. When you do that, then they will feel the obligation to return your favor.
So, when you have already finished off your work and have some free time, ask your colleagues whether you can help them or not. It will definitely improve the work relation between you and your colleagues.
23. Don’t be a crybaby:
If nothing is going right for you, then you must not go straight to the management. Instead, try to solve the matter on your own and only think of going to the management when you are not able to solve it on your own.
24. Don’t send wrong signals:
Sometimes, unintentionally we end up giving wrong signals to our colleagues. Therefore, we have to make sure that we are doing things right on our part.
25. Respect people’s time:
Unless, it is very important, never hang around by the side of your colleague when they are busy doing their own stuff.
When you will respect other’s time, it will show you in a better light. Even when you meet someone outside your office during weekends, it will be really good, if you can leave them alone after exchanging few notes.
Before arranging meetings, you must ask them whether they are comfortable with the timing or not.
In case you see your colleagues having lunch, then try avoiding discussing some official issue with them because you definitely do not want to disturb them over lunch.
26. Stay away from politics:
Office politics are deadly, therefore, you must make an effort to stay away from it because if you get involved in that, then it will be bad for you.
The office politics are bad and you never know who is going to be your boss, so never indulge in any kind of rude conversation against anybody.
27. Care for others:
When you are completing a work which involves others, make it a point to dish out email asking whether the work is going on smoothly or not.
It will show that you really care for them and are concerned about their work too.
28. Listening is a great activity:
Be a good listener as it will help you in understanding the other person well. It will also ensure that the person doesn’t have to repeat themselves and it will make them realize that you are on the same page as that of them.
29. Compromise for your co-workers:
The work environment will improve when you compromise for your co- workers. Compromise is something which will allow everybody win and that will maintain a healthy work relationship too.
30. Take it in your stride:
It is enjoyable when you are laughing at someone else’s expense, but you must remember that tomorrow it might be your turn, so you must be prepared for that.
When teasing is done in a healthy manner, then laugh it off and don’t take it seriously because laughter is the best medicine.
When you laugh with them on the pranks played on you, then your colleagues will know that you are the kind of person who is confident enough to laugh at yourself.
But, you must draw a line when you think that they are crossing the limits because it is important that you let them know, not everything is a matter of joke.
