The COVID-19 pandemic taught us the importance of professional relationships and feeling valued in the workplace. Additionally, positivity resonates to our career success and satisfaction when we feel connected to and supported by our coworkers. One way that positive workplace relationships thrive is through the ubuntu-based skills of empathy and active listening, which help build our emotional intelligence.

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“8 Ways To Build Strong Relationships in the Workplace“
Author: Jennifer Herrity
Updated March 10, 2023
From Indeed.com

Excerpt

“Positive relationships in the workplace are an integral part of career success. When building relationships in the workplace, you will notice an increase in productivity and overall job satisfaction. You can build lasting, professional relationships by taking certain steps toward understanding your emotional intelligence and getting to know your coworkers.

Workplace relationships provide the following benefits:

• Increased satisfaction with your career
• Increased comfort with presentations and team meetings
• Improved productivity for all team members
• Moral support and assistance with meeting challenging timelines
• Higher retention rates

How to build relationships in the workplace

Understand your strengths and weaknesses
Before focusing on developing new workplace relationships, it can be helpful to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Developing relationship skills like communication, active listening and conflict resolution can assist you when initiating workplace relationships. Evaluate the positive things that you bring to a new workplace relationship and consider the things you need in a relationship. Evaluating your emotional intelligence (EI) can assist with this task. Understanding your emotional intelligence involves a focus on:

• Self-awareness: Self-awareness is the ability to know your needs and wants in your career and relationship. 
• Self-regulation: Self-regulation is the ability to regulate your own emotions and thoughts by keeping your long-term goals in mind.
• Empathy: Empathy is understanding and empathizing with another’s situation.
• Social skills: Developing important social skills like teamwork, conflict resolution, communication and problem-solving skills are crucial when developing new relationships.
  
  Schedule time to develop relationships
  Building positive relationships in the workplace takes time. Your position’s daily expectations and duties can make it difficult to find time to interact with other team members. You will find interacting with and getting to know your coworkers easier by scheduling time to develop relationships. You might schedule a time during lunch, during the first 10 minutes of your workday or as you leave the office at the end of the day. You could even schedule the first 10 minutes of a meeting to be a time when everyone catches up with one another. Additionally, many employers have after-work outings or team events which can be great for building workplace relationships.

Ask questions and listen
Asking questions and actively listening will allow you to learn more about your coworkers and are also an important part of building relationships. Building positive relationships in the workplace takes time….”

To read more about building relationships in the workplace, visit https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-build-relationships

Photo: Cherrydeck