Guidelines to Help Busineses Manage Friendships at Work
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Guidelines to Help Busineses Manage Friendships at Work
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.
Guidelines to Help Busineses Manage Friendships at Work - To learn more about this author, visit Donna Flagg's Website.
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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.
Guidelines to Help Busineses Manage Friendships at Work - To learn more about this author, visit Donna Flagg's Website.
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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