by Ludovico Cudia

Created on: February 16, 2009   Last Updated: February 22, 2009

Work place relationship building is not as easy as one would think. There are politics and sensitivity issues involved. One must steer clear of accidentally choosing sides. This is a very common mistake that divides many people and leads to bad communication practices and eventually hurts productivity. Keep an open mind when dealing with your coworkers. Let people talk and just listen. Do not ever repeat conversations with other coworkers that someone has confided in you about. Once this has happened your trust goes out the window typically with everyone involved and it is very difficult if not impossible to regain that trust. Show your coworkers the respect and admiration that you would want them to show you.

Respect and honesty are the key building blocks in a work environment. Once trust is established because you show your honesty and loyalty to a group of people they will respect you and this will lead to growth for everyone involved. Typically if one person demonstrates leadership qualities others will follow in there foot steps. Great management people are key for this kind of development. Management that you can look up to and truly be dedicated to. If you are lucky enough to have this in your workplace this will become a platform for you to become a stand up guy or woman and people will respect that.

Do not talk about personal issues that are embarrassing or involve money issues. This does happen often. People get comfortable in there surroundings and begin to become overly trusting with their peers and people talk. This reverts to my earlier comment, not to repeat conversations that someone has confided in you with. There are two other topics that certainly everyone who has ever had a corporate job knows not to talk about at work. Those are politics and religion. Keep these topics for the kitchen table folks. No one wants to get into a heated argument over one another's religious or political beliefs. If you find yourself chatting about issues other than work related keep the conversation lite and add some humor if possible. This keeps everyone on a positive roll and helps to build moral. Cracking a clean funny joke Evey so often does help to cut tension while working with others. It also gets people communicating. Proper communication is what team work is all about. Without it productivity lacks and the bottom line suffers.

It's ok to become friends with your coworkers. Don't be afraid to ask some people out on a Friday afternoon for a couple of drinks.

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