One of the foremost workplace challenges is building and maintaining a healthy relationship among colleagues. A good relationship has the potential to make working enjoyable and workplaces likeable. Personal efficiency, productivity, creativity and zeal to work are closely linked to the quality of relationships we pursue with seniors, colleagues and those younger in age and experience.
BlogOne would wonder what constitutes these relationships? Can they be nurtured? Can we sustain our relationships by observing some precautions? We have seen many flourishing workplace relations crumbling down like a pack of cards. It takes years of sustained cultivation to build understanding, mutual liking and respect. Yet we cannot take it for granted. It takes very little time for even well-groomed and matured relations getting tossed up. I have been asked repeatedly in seminars, panel discussions, training sessions to suggest how best these relations, particularly at the workplaces, could be developed and preserved. Well, it’s a tough call! 3Ts (Tongue, Temper and Trust) could be important ingredients to work upon. Squabbles at workplaces and differences in approach do not necessarily stem from intellectual differences or ideological non-alignments. Relationships are not affected much by grave mistakes one or the other party commits. Workplace tensions are not always caused by varying efficiencies and skewed workload among colleagues. More often than not unmindful conversations, inadvertent comments and liberal use of language create tensions. Words hurt more than a sword. Words spoken with insensitivity, lacking in empathy can also create confrontational situations. It is those pain points in relations that I attribute to ‘tongue’ (a bit unfairly though). In dealing with people, emotions play an important part. Our past experiences, reactive attitude and hasty jump to conclusions are potential spoilers. They weaken our ability to reach a sound decision. Role of ‘temper’ comes in here. Applying logic and reasoning in analyzing a situation is a useful strategy to come out of tricky situations. Greater the emotion, lesser the reasoning. Using temper to assert our viewpoint leads to anger, aggression and even violence with its retaliation. Delaying our decision and allowing time to sink in facilitates reason to take over and contain seemingly volatile situations. Polite and compassionate communication is very important. The third T (Trust) is perhaps the easiest one to argue about as a helpful tool in supporting healthy relations. We all know mutual trust is a healer, a forgiver, a great pillar of strength in a relationship. Trust begets trust and the mistrust begets mistrust. One must not think however that trust is a product of pure emotion. Trust is built on the edifice of sound morals and human values. Transparency, authenticity and no-frills in our conduct are the building blocks of trust. One has to be trustworthy to deserve the trust of others. Workplace relations are also governed by organizational vision and culture. What motivations and attitudes people grow with has a catalyzing effect in synergistic employee relationships.3Ts listed above work at the level of interpersonal relations on a daily basis. Organizational leadership must endeavour to encourage healthy relations among the team members.
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