Having a relationship at work

Earlier this month participated in a discussion titled-- how can employees do more for their organizations outside of their functional role?

This post is a result of that chat.

Any organization measures its success by differing metrics depending on the nature of its business and industry. However one common thread, which came through the discussion, was the fact that everyone agreed that it’s the employees who make all the difference between success and failure of an organization. And that difference was put down purely to the extent of engagement and involvement in and with the organizational goals.

There is a lot of material out in public domain on this topic. Each of which is valid and useful depending on the environment and the culture in which it’s based.

Speaking from personal experience, having been based across Asia throughout my career, the Asian corporate world expects employee engagement to follow organizational loyalty. There are, however, many forward looking organizations that have knowingly tasked the organizational leaders to be responsible for generating employee engagement. In this scenario, the employees themselves do have an individual responsibility. A responsibility of developing healthy professional relationships, with their co-workers, that result in tangible benefit to the organization. However many an employee do not see the inherent value of undertaking these relationships.

Whilst organizations may have product or service advantages, innovative patents and technology in use; it is the strength of its internal relationships, which employees have within themselves, that create the comparative advantage for an organization.

All said and done it is the employees themselves who make all the difference and this is what we call culture. The benefits of developing strong internal work relationships need to be explained to employees in order to benefit their self-development.

Developing strong and rewarding relationships come about from the way we are socially conditioned to make friends, network and influence, communicate and give value to each other. This is where communities and groups emerge from.

Whilst the organization would put forth its team building sessions and sports engagements and family trips as an employee how can you go about creating long-lasting relationships?

Here's four tips to help you get started:

1. Invest your Lunch hour: As creatures of habit we usually tend to use our lunch hour to be with the colleagues we are most comfortable with. Try and take one to two days of the week out where you invest in having lunch with another colleague from a different division. In large organisations a key issue is that people don’t know who does what in which divisions. By reaching out you will provide your fellow colleagues a-face- to-face opportunity to know you so that they know they can reach out to you if and when they have the need.

2. Step up and offer yourself: Keep an eye on projects coming in. Step up and volunteer for projects that are not in your functional area. Usually these project teams are set up to deliver on key organizational goals. They provide a great way to get yourself to interact with key leaders and show additional initiative that goes into your annual performance. In addition, these projects help you to identify potential mentors and coaches and even work roles that you may want to move into in order to grow within the organization.

3. Get Talking: In an individual capacity have meaningful conversations when you see a fellow colleague from a different unit at any time of the work day. Stop for moment and ask how he or she is and how their families are. Families are always important for all and provide a common platform to connect. Share a minute or two connecting on common personal areas. Do be careful when you do this. Do it honestly and not in passing. In official settings such as meetings there are always issues being discussed. Put aside your fears of looking stupid and speak up. Make sure you understand the context of the issue at hand and then put forth your suggestions.

4. Invest in Helping: If another colleague, either from your own unit or otherwise requests for information or assistance, help them without bothering about position and hierarchy. Not only would you be earning respect and gratitude of your colleague but you’ll be communicating to the leaders that the interest of the organization is what matters to you.

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Joy Abdullah is a senior marketing leader who brings a proven ability in developing business solutions that enable organizations to create financial value through brand experience.

A British national born in the UK, raised in India, and settled in Malaysia he was recognized as one of ‘Malaysia’s 10 Most Engaged Marketing Folks on LinkedIn’ in 2015.

He writes, consults, trains and speaks on brand experience value in an Asian perspective.

Click here for his articles.  

?Connect with Joy on:

1. Linked In 

2. Twitter @JoyAbdullah

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