How to Manage Employee Relationships

Communication, Communication, Communication

Communication, Communication, Communication

When work and life balance issues are evident, and you have resolved your communication concerns at home, what is your next step?

Your co-workers, your line manager and your customers, your relationship with each of these will have an impact on your work life balance.

Your Working Relationships

It would be madness to resolve relationship issues at home only to allow working relationships to falter, and to let working relationships affect your new found equilibrium.

your working relationships right may provide you with your biggest challenge. Unless you are extremely fortunate or self employed, your work colleagues were thrust upon you. Your input into selection is often minimal or none at all.

Each co worker brings to the workplace many and varied values, beliefs and definitions of work.

The solution to effective working relationships?

The solution to this potential problem is that of our old friend communication and his best pal awareness.

How you communicate, whether good or bad, has a direct influence on your relationships at work….having an awareness of how you communicate will be beneficial in finding out what beliefs, values and definitions of work your co-workers bring to work with them.

No matter what those beliefs and values are, be they political, social, economical or cultural, having an understanding and awareness of these beliefs will be hugely important in how you communicate.

There are a few steps that you can take to become more aware of your co-workers, and it is a very simple step, talk, yes talk, simply talking will enable you to understand them a great deal better.

Becoming more aware of their values, beliefs and desires is an important element of communication.

Listening - The best advice anyone can give

As is the case with home relationships, the same is true of work relationships, try listening to your colleagues, try asking open ended questions, questions which require more than just a simple yes or no response.

Here is a sample of 50 excellent coaching questions, although designed with coaching in mind they can be adapted to suit any situation.

They will provide an excellent comparison tool, showing examples of great questions, but don’t forget to listen to the answers

This improvement in awareness of your colleagues will confirm the old saying… “Don’t judge a person until you have walked a day in their shoes”

Once you have gained this alternative perspective, not only will your own non judgmental (of yourself) inner voice help you to succeed it will also develop into an non judgmental awareness of your colleagues, allowing your colleagues to succeed and also providing them with a greater understanding of you.

At this point everybody wins, and who today does not like win win situations? This new found awareness will give you numerous benefits; they will enhance your emotional intelligence, which in turn will provide you with an edge in the business environment.