Ways To Nurture Strong Relationships In The Workplace
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Show up, mind your business, ignore others, get through the day, and leave - that’s the routine for some workers, but that’s not what you want as a business owner. One survey found that 90% of American workers have colleagues who annoy them, meaning there’s an increased likelihood of animosity and hostile relationships in most workplaces, hampering productivity. You can prevent this by building positive relationships among your workers to encourage respect, improve employee morale, boost communication, and ensure effective teamwork. Here are five ways to nurture strong relationships in the workplace.
Encourage workers to get to know each other
One study found that managers alone can account for about 70% of their team’s engagement. So, lead by example by going out of your way to get to know your workers a lot better. Some employers have a bad habit of ghosting their workers unless they need something done.
Of course, no one is suggesting turning your staff members into your best buddies, but it helps to get to know those who work for you a little better. Use regular one-on-ones to build good relationships with them. How’s your day going? How’s your family doing? How did your weekend go? Questions like these may not sound important, but they could mean a lot to your workers, showing them that you care.
But the bus doesn’t stop with you; encourage your workers to get to know each other by listening to one another. The more a worker knows about their colleague's struggles or story, the less apathetic they might be towards them.
Change your attitude about mistakes
If your workers make a mistake, correct them, provide constructive feedback, and move past it, especially if it’s the first time. Also, it’s extremely important to acknowledge your mistakes if you’re in a leadership role. Allocating blame and dwelling on a worker’s past mistakes will tarnish your image and that of your workers. And no, that does not mean mistakes should not have consequences, especially when they cost your business. But find ways to turn each blunder into a teachable moment. It helps your workers learn and apply the knowledge they gain to future projects. Even better, it fosters a positive relationship between you and your team, preventing ill feelings and bad blood.
Prioritize conflict management
Remember that the work environment is always prone to conflicts, particularly when different people from different backgrounds with varying opinions try to work together. Conflicts are a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if,’ so it’s important to know how to resolve them when they occur to prevent them from escalating. The longer a conflict resolution process takes, the higher the chance of creating pent-up emotions among the workers involved. You can also speak to experts like a restorative practices consultant to help you resolve conflicts and build a more harmonious and united workforce geared towards productivity.
Build on your emotional intelligence
As mentioned earlier, conflicts are almost inevitable at work. How you manage your emotions, especially the negative ones, is critical to your ability to work through inevitable conflicts when they pop up. Allowing your emotions to get to you during a heated moment can easily escalate an already tense situation. Even worse, you might end up saying distasteful things that will affect your workers in the wrong way, breeding resentment in them as a result.
According to research, one of the fastest ways to regulate your emotions is by taking deep breaths. It may sound too simple, but proper breath control can calm you down and help you navigate conflicts without losing your cool. You can also learn how to use non-verbal cues while acting with compassion towards your workers.
Be proactive about relationship nurturing with team bonding activities
Another great way to nurture strong work relationships is to add various team-bonding activities to your yearly work calendar. Doing this is important for boosting employee morale, building trust, encouraging collaboration, improving communication, and nurturing positive relationships. The right team bonding activities will teach your workers how to rely on and fall back on each other for support. The trust you build from such activities will also eliminate your need to micromanage while making your workers feel safe enough to engage in open communication.
When choosing the right activities, focus more on options that will bring your team together. A few good examples include Bingo parties, Trivia nights, and Mystery solving activities. You can also consider volunteering, scavenger hunts, team lunches or parties, and inter-department fun competitions. But regardless of the activities you choose, please ensure that they fall within your business budget.