The human relations at work They are established by creating connections with each other, cooperating for their proper functioning, associating, creating work teams and establishing a good group climate.
In the daily life of any person, interpersonal relationships can be many and of a different nature: as a couple, with friends ... Even the waiter who serves you a coffee or the neighbor whom you greet in the morning.
Generally, you can choose who to establish interpersonal relationships with at work and who not. We tend to choose to approach people more like us and we do not foster relationships with those with whom we least identify.
In this way, social groups arise, groups of friends, couples ... You can choose to go to the cafeteria where that waiter who inspires a smile and you can choose to go up the stairs so as not to coincide in the elevator with a neighbor with whom you do not feel like speak.
But what about work? Workers spend an average of 8 hours a day working hand in hand with other people with whom we have not chosen to be. By statistics, you will find people more like you, and with whom you want to spend more time, and people less like; but in the workplace, it is usually difficult to choose.
Is it possible to foster good interpersonal relationships at work? How can you collaborate as a team with individuals you didn't previously know? How do you maintain a good relationship with someone you have not chosen to live with??
The basic step that you should carry out in the first place when proposing to improve the interpersonal relationships that you maintain at work, should be to begin to know yourself before analyzing your relationships with others.
The relationships you establish with those around you depend to a large extent on who you are, so to detect your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to relating, you should start by observing yourself.
This self-knowledge through self-observation can be carried out by analyzing your relationship with your co-workers; but surely you will find very similar patterns in your relationships with family, friends or partner. Observe yourself in each of your interventions with another person, as if you were seeing yourself from the outside.
This process may take longer than you expect, it is normal to have to perform the self-observation exercise several times until you can distinguish which behaviors you repeat the most or most common in your relationships with others..
To get to know yourself, it is important that you pay attention to:
- Factors that make you feel good.
- Moments that make you angry.
- Situations that awaken your motivation.
- Scenarios that block you.
- Contexts in which you want to collaborate.
In addition to observation, it is very important that you take time to reflect later on what is examined in each of your interventions. You can write down your conclusions in a notebook, it will help you to internalize it better.
In this way, once you are aware of the contexts or factors of the situation in which you find yourself better or worse, you will be able to quickly identify them and redirect them towards a good end..
Communication is one of the basic processes of people, main in social life. To achieve effective communication, you must take into account what are the barriers and difficulties, in order to identify them when they arise in your communication with others and avoid them, or at least minimize them.
In companies, organizations, or any other teamwork that involves an interpersonal work relationship, communication is what makes joint work possible. It is essential that the members of an organization communicate with each other effectively, since the positive results of the organization depend on them.
As communication between them flows smoothly and with the fewest possible barriers, the better joint decisions you will make and your work will be of higher quality, factors that will become tangible in increasing the success of the organization..
Positive elements for effective communication:
- Communication must be bilateral: It has to flow in two directions. If instead it flowed in one direction, we would not be talking about communication, but simply transmitting information.
- It must imply a personal implication: this means that communication that supposes neutrality for the parties involved should be avoided. If you are not involved in communication, you are less likely to get positive results from it.
- Listen to the ideas being conveyed, not just the factual data: Sometimes the source of ideas through which communication is being established is more important than the data itself.
Along with communication, listening is also a fundamental factor in maintaining interpersonal relationships. Active listening is a listening tool that helps communication between people be more productive.
This type of listening implies making the person who is communicating a message see that you, as a listener, are listening, understanding, and correctly interpreting what they are trying to convey to you..
In this way, both of you will know that the communication is being correct and that the information is being transferred without errors or misinterpretations..
Actions that you must put into practice to carry out active listening:
- Paraphrase and rephrase: Reinforces the message that is being transmitted to you and, in addition, shows that you are understanding it. In case you are not understanding it properly, it will be useful for them to explain it to you again or for the ideas to be exposed to you in another way, redirecting you towards a good understanding.
- Assent: It will show your attention to the conversation and the information you are receiving.
- Expand the information with questions: help the person who is presenting their ideas to you to show them in as much detail as possible. You will support him in his speech and also you will better grasp the message and the important elements of it.
- Summarize the main ideas: At the end of the full presentation, or a relevant section of it, it is positive that you make the effort to summarize and present to the other person the main ideas that you have obtained from his speech. In this way, both of you will obtain the fundamental conclusions of the message and you will know that, in addition, it has been transmitted correctly and completely..
Actions that interrupt active listening:
- Judge: Making judgments while another person is exposing their ideas, plans or purposes, interrupts communication and creates doubts and insecurities in who is
broadcasting the message, causing it to probably stop exposing it.
- Interrupt: by interrupting a speech before its end, the common thread of the same is broken, causing errors or omissions of information that could have resulted
relevant.
- Advising when it is not appropriate or in your own opinion- If the person you're listening to hasn't asked for your advice or opinion, it's probably not the time to give it. You could cause a clash of opinions and interrupt communication.
Listening to the other is as important as communicating, and sometimes this is an even more complicated activity to carry out correctly than the previous one. By practicing it regularly, you will increase your ability to listen actively..
Feedback is an element closely related to active listening and has a lot to do with it. However, this section has been dedicated to it independently due to the relevance it acquires, by itself, when it comes to maintaining positive interpersonal relationships.
Feedback occurs when you return to the other or the group your experience, understanding or conclusions after the communication that has taken place.
There are a number of rules for using this tool:
- Specific: after a conversation or other situation that has involved interaction with another person, the feedback must be specific to that situation. Interpersonal relationships will be reinforced through the use of feedback in each of the specific interactions, it does not have the same effectiveness if it is used in general..
- Positive and not very evaluative: It is not the same to say: “we are not doing it well” than “we can improve it”. Feedback must be transmitted positively, using the second option and never subjectively evaluating, but objectively qualifying.
- About something modifiable: focus your feedback on issues that can be used to improve something in particular. Draw a conclusion that cannot be
working to change or improve it will create frustration, hindering correct interpersonal relationships.
- Immediate in time: you must use the feedback in the moment following the situation on which you want to give it. You always have to be united to your cause. Actions such as calling future meetings, or writing it down for a later time, are negative. It is probably better not to give feedback so delayed.
Not resolving a latent conflict or not making a decision about it in a company means mismanaging conflicts.
A poorly managed conflict creates a bad climate (hostility and resentments), loss of self-esteem, loss of group cohesion and a decrease in the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization or group.
For the correct management of a conflict, actions such as:
- Maintain a defensive posture.
- Find the culprit or culprits of the situation.
- Segment the group into opposing parts.
- Believe that your opinion is the only valuable one and a positive solution for everyone.
On the contrary, one must learn to treat conflicts as an opportunity for improvement and positive change, fostering attitudes such as:
- Participation of all group members.
- Teamwork.
- Match work goals and objectives.
- Spend time for reflection and joint decision-making.
One thing that all positive interpersonal relationships have in common is that they are based on mutual respect and trust. To maintain relationships of this type, you must show an attitude that shows those around you that they can trust you and that you respect them as people, both with your actions and with your words..
In addition to your closest colleagues or your work team, you should show this attitude with other members of the company with whom you also interact, even if it is less often..
The more you expand the circle, the greater your chances of finding more interpersonal relationships to enjoy..
Finally, good humor is a key factor in maintaining positive interpersonal relationships, so you must remember to maintain it throughout your workday and transmit it to the people around you..
-Say hello kindly: the simple act of greeting your colleagues, instead of going directly to your workplace, is a positive energy boost for everyone.
- Smile: showing a smile in the hallway, on a break, or in the coffee room, is a way to promote a good mood among your colleagues and ward off bad fumes.
- Celebrate your own and others' achievements: Look for reasons to celebrate. In the work environment, as in any other, it is positive to highlight the good and joyful things that are worthy of celebration. A promotion, a motherhood or fatherhood, a birthday or a goal achievement are good reasons to disconnect for a moment from pending work and enjoy the positive things.
Also, showing your good humor is contagious; And, if you do it, chances are they will give it back to you. When you find yourself lacking in positive energy, your work will be rewarded when you realize that your colleagues give you back that positive attitude that you yourself had transmitted and infected them.
And what do you do to have good interpersonal relationships in your work?
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