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Before we begin, we wanted to get things started with today's big question of the day: Is it better to work with people who are already your friends or to simply be friendly with the people you work with and keep your friendships seperate? Let us know your answer and why in the comments below!
School and workplace relationships have the potential to help us reach our goals and go even further than we thought possible. If we're not careful, those same relationships can derail our plans completely.
What's the real difference between school or work friends and true friendship? What should we be looking for, what should we expect, and how can we make the most of these relationships that aren't usually designed to outlast the circumstances that brought them together?
Peer relationships play a crucial role in our development. From early childhood, adolescence, and continuing on through adulthood, how we relate with those around us will have a huge impact on everything from grades to promotions.
Does this mean that we need to be everyone's best friend to ensure we have the brightest future? Isn't that being kind of fake? What we need to understand first is the difference between friendship and peer acceptance.
While friendship is a mutual respect, enjoyment and symetrical benefits to each individual in the relationship, peer acceptance can exist without the emotional implications that typically come along with friendship and the acceptance can be one sided rather than mutual.*
To put it more simply, real friends like and value one another as people, peer acceptance only requires us to value what an individual has to offer.
In school and in the workplace, it is great to make friends, but friendship doesn't always equal the right partner for the job or assignment. In these areas of life, success is achieved in the short term and productivity oftentimes has to take precidence over enjoyment. That being said, these relationships can actually be much more enjoyable, making for a less stressful and more productive partnership, if we come to them with the right attitude.
An article on indeed.com* gives us five helpful tips to building better workplace relationships:
1. Develop trust with your peers - Show them that you are their for the success of the team. Finish assignments on time and put forward your best effort.
2. Maintain consistent communication - Verbally discuss and agree upon clear expectations and roles for the group. Throughout the assignment, talk through roadblocks and listen to their feedback in order to overcome obstacles.
3. Show appreciation and respect - Recognize that everyone in the group has different experiences which gives them a unique and valuable perspective. Look for opportunities to give others the floor and encourage their ideas with positive and encouraging feedback.
Speak well of your teammates, especially when they're not around - don't try to build your credibility by tearing others down. If you are talking badly about a team member behind their back, why would anyone trust that you aren't doing the same about them when they are gone. While it may feel temporarily empowering to point out others faults, very quickly this type of behavior will undermine the success of your whole team.
Finally, stay positive. All of you are here with the same goal. You're working with eachother, not against. The more supportive you can be of eachother, the more you'll actually be helping yourself. When one of you succeeds, all of you succeed!
Next week, we'll be talking about relationship killers. These are some of the most common ways we hurt our relationships, either intentionally or sometimes without even realizing it. Chances are, you have gotten caught with a few of these behaviors before. We'll talk about what they are, why they hurt and how to avoid them!
Before you go, leave your answer to this weeks big question in the comments below: Is it better to work with your friends or to keep your friend friends and your workplace separate?
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