PROUDLY ANNOUNCING OUR FIRST JOINT FAST COMPANY ARTICLE

We all have a few people in our lives who, when they call, we answer no matter what. For me, those people are my kids, my mom, and Marshall Goldsmith , who is known as the world’s #1 leadership coach. With my kids and my mom, I want to know if something is wrong. With Marshall, I know it’s something fun and exciting that I shouldn’t miss.

One morning, I got a call from Marshall. He wanted me to meet Ruth Gotian, Ed.D., M.S. , who was interviewing him for an article. She was intrigued by how Marshall came up with the idea of 100 Coaches (we are both members) during one of my sessions.

Marshall thought Ruth should hear about the Heroes Exercise that sparked his big AHA! moment—directly from me. So, in true Marshall fashion, he left us to continue the conversation while he jumped into his next meeting with an important CEO (Ruth says it might have been a head of state.) ?

Our friendship began then and has flourished ever since. As I was piloting Design Connections in Alaska this spring as a remedy for loneliness and isolation, Ruth was publishing her latest book,?The Financial Times Guide to Mentoring , and we found a wonderful synergy between our work. ?

It eventually led to our first collaboration for Fast Company—an article on Friendship (wink wink) that we are very proud of: This is how you develop (and rekindle) workplace friendships.

It’s hard to make friends as an adult (and the pandemic did not help.) But it doesn’t have to be impossible. Having a friend at work significantly boosts employee engagement, enhances innovation, and can even increase revenue due to increased?team cohesion and morale, which often leads to improved performance. Gallup’s report shows that only 30% of employees are engaged at work—a number that’s been stagnant for over a decade.

In our article, we offer practical strategies for building meaningful workplace relationships, such as:

• Creating the right conditions for connection through shared time, place, and interest.
• Building empathy and trust by helping each other through mentorship programs, volunteer opportunities, and preemptive help (I wrote about this in an earlier newsletter here )
• Leveraging shared interests through interest groups and cross-department projects

We dive into showing how having a friend at work can make all the difference—increasing engagement, sparking innovation, and even boosting revenue.? I believe that you work with your friends and become friends with the people you work with. Ruth and I are living proof of that.

Thank you,

Ayse

All drawings by?Ayse Birsel, ? 2024.

INSPIRATION

How do you deliver difficult messages without sacrificing political capital or damaging relationships?

Join IOC Executive Director Jeffrey Hull, and Amii Barnard-Bahn next Thursday, August 21 at noon ET/9 am PT, live on CoachX conversations at the Institute of Coaching! They will share their research and the 6-step methodology that will get you through these tough spots and is easily adaptable to many life situations.

Register here to join.

For our design programs, please email Leah Caplan, VP, Design and Project Planning, Birsel + Seck, at?[email protected] .

For coaching engagements, please email Jacquelyn Lane, President, 100 Coaches, at?[email protected] .

For speaking engagements, please email Nancy Aaronson at?[email protected] .