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Guidelines to Help Busineses Manage Friendships at Work
| Guest post by: Donna Flagg |
Article Overview: Recently, the pendulum has begun to swing away from the taboo notion that friendships at work threaten business results and toward what value may be inherent to having friendships in the workplace. Employers are rethinking old mandates that expected employees to keep their personal lives "outside."
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Guidelines to Help Busineses Manage Friendships at Work
I never really understood the debate over why friendships at work were considered a bad thing and why companies have historically discouraged personal relationships as if they somehow clash with professional ones. In my career, since day one, if I haven’t been working for or with friends, I’ve had friends working for me. There have never been any problems. In fact they are the strongest relationships and best work experiences I’ve had - by far.
Recently, the pendulum has begun to swing away from the taboo notion that friendships at work threaten business results and toward what value may be inherent to having friendships in the workplace. Employers are rethinking old mandates that expected employees to keep their personal lives "outside."
But either way, whether you are for or against employee chumminess on the job, its success or failure will undoubtedly depend on the individuals’ maturity, professionalism and ability to manage relationships both at work and at play. Here are a few things you can communicate with employees that will help keep a good thing like friendship from going bad into something destructive, distracting and not good for your business. They will be clear and workplace relationships will remain on their appropriate and respective tracks.
1 Never betray a confidence, unless there are disclosure policies that need to be cited. You won’t be trusted by your friends or anyone else.
2 Talk openly about performance. Call a spade a spade and don’t take feedback personally.
3 Talk openly about feelings. Share your perspective so that you are understood as accurately as is possible.
4 Don’t gossip about other people. Friends, or not, people will think you gossip about them too.
5 Keep work separate from play. Know where the boundary lines should be drawn.
6 Be clear about obligations and fulfill them on both fronts. Letting people down either personally or professionally will not only hurt your relationships, but it will ding your reputation too.
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Article Tags: boundary lines, business results, clash, confidence, disclosure policies, feelings, friendships, gossip, mandates, maturity, notion, pendulum, personal lives, personal relationships, professionalism, reputation, spade a spade, work experiences, workplace employers, workplace relationships
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About the Author: Donna Flagg RSS for Donna's articles - Visit Donna's website Donna Flagg spent over 15 years in business before founding The Krysalis Group, a consulting firm specializing in management, marketing, training and sales and their respective relationships to business results. Her management career began in sales at CHANEL, and before branching out on her own, she spearheaded a new training function within the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs. After earning a BA from Rutgers University and gaining experience on the front lines of Corporate America, Donna went on to attend New York University's Graduate School of Education where she obtained a master's degree in Organizational Development and Human Resource Management, and a post graduate degree in Business Education. She has also been a speaker at City University of New York (CUNY) and New York University through Stern Business School and Delta Pi Epsilon, a national honorary professional graduate society in business education and training. In addition, she speaks at various conferences including those conducted by The Business Leadership Network and The Conference Board, where she was also on the advisory committee for the Enterprise Learning Strategies Conference. For her communications expertise, Donna was invited to be a host at the Liz Claiborne Leadership Offsite to discuss branding during their "Progressive Dinner" event and more recently, a speaker at the Inc. Leadership Conference in Dallas, TX. Donna is the author of Surviving Dreaded Conversations and is blogger on Pyschology Today and The Huffington Post. She is frequently featured in the press for her workplace expertise in outlets including CNBC, the New York Times, WOR, and XM Satellite Radio. Donna currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Randy Foye Foundation where she actively participates in its mission to assist children and families in Newark, NJ. Click here to visit Donna's website   Humor at Work Strategic HR Plans Integrating People and Business Organizational Alignment The Importance of Building HR Infrastructure Tips on Creating Surveys to Measure Employee Satisfaction The Need for Romantic Relationship Policies |
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