Building good relationships at work is an important part of developing a company culture that supports its employees and improves morale. Communication between individuals will lead to better overall communication between departments and with managers. From an HR perspective, this is about creating opportunities for team members to collaborate on fun projects and get individuals to let their guards down a bit. For managers, it can mean recognizing the accomplishments of individuals. And for employees it can simply be about networking and striving to make a friendly workplace. Keep reading to see a breakdown of how each perspective can improve work relationships:
How HR staff members can encourage positive communication
The HR department has the responsibility of making sure the company’s employees feel safe, respected and valued. When those criteria are met, managers will have an easier time promoting a healthy company culture. To get specific, HR managers can help promote a healthy employee work/life balance. In a small business, this will mean setting up a good compensation policy. All Business noted that employee burnout can happen when workloads become overwhelming or when an employee’s skills aren’t used as effectively.
“Show employees that their opinons are valued.”
Say Company X has developed a proprietary piece of software to help its employees produce widgets. The intent of the software is to increase productivity – and the HR manager has noticed more employees looking frazzled or overworked. This could indicate that the new software isn’t as user friendly as the developers assumed it was. Therefore, the HR manager decides to implement company-wide training sessions to learn how to use the software. At the sessions employees are encouraged to ask questions and share their thoughts. In the end this promotes helpful relationships across departments, shows the employees that their opinions are valued and increases productivity.
Supervisors can use company culture to promote creativity
Company culture can be hard to define, but when it comes to promoting relationships and creativity, it’s a little easier to pin down. When managers take the time to acknowledge the accomplishments of employees it creates a sense of positivity within the company. Kate Harrison, a startup marketing expert, writing for Forbes magazine, suggested finding ways for employees to recognize one another. This starts with the management. Taking a moment during company meetings to call out recent accomplishments is one way to achieve this goal. Rewards and bonuses are other options.
Supervisors should set aside some time for teambuilding activities that enhance creativity. Team sports and games are fun ways to get employees comfortable with one another and will do more to boost creativity than going on a retreat. Employees that can play table tennis together can definitely collaborate on projects together!
Good workplace relationships will lead to improved productivity.Two things employees can do to build good working relationships
Employees can take an active role in building healthy workplace relationships by focusing on emotional intelligence and avoiding company gossip. According to MindTools, emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize one’s own emotions and understand what they mean. For example, if you’re feeling depressed at work, you should be able to pinpoint why – is the emotion caused by something that happened at home, or are you being overwhelmed at work? If it has to do with work, how can you get help in dealing with the problem? Similarly, employees should recognize when their behavior impacts the emotions of their coworkers. Gossip should be avoided completely. If it’s untrue it could have seriously negative consequences, and if it is true it’s best left to those directly involved.
At the end of the day building good working relationships involves every member of the company. Being mindful and striving to promote creativity are among the best ways to achieve a safe, respectful workplace.
How does your company promote good relationships at work? Let us know by tweeting @MSIGTS.