`Official' friendships
ANITA turned down a new job with a better salary because it would have meant leaving her friends behind.
`I have been around for so long, and have great friends at the workplace.
The work-culture too is very conducive and informal -- it is almost like my second home!' she says. `I would have missed them all at the new place!'
It is natural that many friendships begin and flourish in the workplace- work has become part of our social infrastructure, and second only to family in people's priorities.
The workplace provides fertile ground for people to meet and interact with non-family members.
But most companies not only fail to recognise the value of office friendships, they often actively discourage them.
There are issues of confidentiality and favouritism, which can become headaches, they point out.
Workplace friendships can also be a serious issue when people are made redundant.
Friendship may take precedence over organisational interests argue some of the hardliners.
The flipside is however negligible, when you think of the benefits that accrue by encouraging friendships at the workplace. Consider this--
Office friendships can cut staff turnover and boost productivity. Actively encouraging a good workplace community can translate into commercial advantages.
With the breakdown of traditional social networks - religion, family and community combined with increases in single-person households, the office has become an important source of friendship.
The workplace community plays a significant role in deciding how long an employee stays with it.
The advantage of having great friendships with your colleagues is that the concept of team spirit is taken to a higher level.
Everybody looks after everyone else and helps everyone else to meet his targets.
Business friendships provide a sounding board for emotional support and essential feedback on performance.
It can be a forum for sharing information on the way a company or an industry operates or for helping someone to get a footing in another.
Business friendships make work more fun and enhance creativity.
As Nella Barkley, author of `The Crystal-Barkley Guide to Taking Charge of Your Career' says, "Creativity flows when you can laugh a little together, spin off each other's ideas, and relax."
However one should not jump right away into an intimate friendship with colleagues especially if you are new to the job, advices Dr. Yaeger, author of an award-winning book on `Business Protocol' and `Friendshifts: The Power of Friendship'.
According to Dr. Yaeger, casual, not close or best friendships are preferable in business.
He advises new entrants against revealing too much too soon to co-workers.
According to his research, it takes on an average, three years and a number of relationship `tests' to know whether someone is a genuine friend.
One can be friendly at the workplace or in business without putting yourself or your job in jeopardy.
Achievement in most careers depends on building trusting relationships and friendships, that special relationship between two individuals who like and care about each other. This is a key way to build that trust.
BINDU SRIDHAR
faqs@cnkonline.com
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Opportunities
