Effective relationships at work will have a positive impact on your personal performance and that of the organisation. By considering the way you communicate and taking time to build your relationships with care and respect, this will lay the foundation for any disagreements that may occur in the future. It is inevitable that people will disagree over certain things or not get along, even in a professional setting. However, paying close attention to your colleagues’ opinions, understanding where they are coming from and being willing to compromise can go a very long way towards keeping relations civil and getting work done A recent Employ.ed Intern Building professional relationships is not as difficult as it sounds. By understanding preferred communication methods, gaining their trust and learning their strengths and weaknesses, you do just that. Sometimes you will have to face uncomfortable situations and deal with disagreements. Learning from these is a key part of your career development. Benefits of effective relationship management It raises energy levels, creativity and productivity. Lower stress, which leads to better wellbeing and mental health. Higher quality days at the office and higher performance. Job satisfaction improves because you like spending time at work. Beneficial for your career development. Effective relationships often start with examining yourself and building your self-awareness. Think about any times when your professional relationships have not gone as well as you had hoped, can you identify how you reacted in these situations? The ability to reflect on different situations is really valuable as it allows you to understand your approach and potentially change your behaviours and reactions to similar scenarios in the future. Being objective, even when it’s uncomfortable and removing emotion from conversations can also help to reduce the amount of disagreements that happen at work. Dealing with difficult relationships at work can be challenging, which is why we have focussed the following discussion on this topic. The discussion focuses on dealing with disagreements at work and explains how to begin reflecting and gaining emotional intelligence. "Relationship Managment" - A professional behaviours discussion Tips for strengthening relationships at work: Be open and honest. This builds trust and creates an environment where problems can be addressed. Be respectful and understanding. Value others’ ideas and practice seeing their perspective. Listening makes the other person feel valued and helps build a rapport with them. Inability to meet deadlines does not put you in favour with your colleagues, try to be realistic about delivery and notify stakeholders as soon as you face challenges. Share credit and recognise the contributions of those around you! Celebrate their successes, acknowledge and thank others involved in a piece of work. Additional resources University of Edinburgh login required - If you are experiencing difficulty with logging in please contact careers@ed.ac.uk Dealing with difficult colleagues How do you strengthen relationships 10 tips for gaining the likeability factor Healthy conflict and how to deal with it This article was published on 2024-04-02
