Make Workplace Relationships a Priority

 Wed 31 March 2021

Make Workplace Relationships a Priority

 
Ensuring that tomorrow’s workplaces are engaging, innovative, creative, and inclusive depends on one key factor: relationships. As a leader, you need to ask yourself: How can I set up a remote or hybrid workplace that’s conducive to healthy social ties? It starts with being proactive. With remote and hybrid work, you can’t count on bonds to form in the hallway or by the water cooler. Make it your job — and the job of other managers — to be the glue that brings people together. Host virtual events, invite people from other teams to your meetings, and look for ways to decrease workloads and balance resources, so people have time and energy to make workplace relationships a priority. It’s also crucial to make your meetings inclusive. Going forward, meetings will likely include a mix of people together in physical offices and those in videoconference mode. When you’re moderating a hybrid meeting, be sure to integrate all team members, regardless of where they’re working from. Healthy relationships at work aren’t just nice to have. They improve information flow, spur innovation, help retention, and lead to better overall organizational performance.
This tip is adapted from “What a Year of WFH Has Done to Our Relationships at Work,” by Nancy Baym et al.