6 Things Affect Your Work Relationships

The development of a healthy working relationship is a critical component of business growth. The role of a positive workplace relationship should be understood by both office workers and managers. Numerous factors can affect your team relationship and working relationship with coworkers. If you want to recognize, measure and control these factors as well as build productive team culture we recommend continuing reading this article by Autonomous.

Workplace relationships may have a positive or negative effect on your job satisfaction and productivity. Building positive team relationships is an excellent way to motivate staff, create a comfortable working environment, and align the workforce with the objectives and goals of the company. In this article, we discuss what a working relationship is, unpack the things that affect your work relationships, and provide recommendations to managers to use these factors positively.

What is a Working Relationship?

A working relationship can be defined as – a productive or successful relationship is one in which individuals collaborate because of their job; (also) a degree of collaboration necessary to enable work to be completed, progress to be achieved, and so on.

Typically, work relationships are split into two categories: professional and personal. Professional relationships exist purely to help you accomplish your work objective and tasks. They assist you in furthering your career and would not survive if it were not for your work. Personal working relationships are ones that you have for social purposes. They have little effect on your job except to increase employer satisfaction and keep you sane.

Factors That Affect Your Work Relationships

The success of an employee, manager, and the company is centered on strong and good workplace relationships. According to research, managers are substantially less stressed when they have strong relationships with their workers, and employee satisfaction rises by almost 50% when employees form positive team relationships at work. If you want to recognize, measure, and control the relationships in your company, we recommend evaluating these six things that affect your work relationship:

1. Trust

Trust is the foundation of every relationship. You have no basis to rely on if you do not have trust. Employees at high-trust firms are less stressed, have more stamina, are more productive, have fewer sick days, more employee engagement, and are less burnt out. Trust can be expressed in a variety of ways in the workplace, including:

• Being open to other people's thoughts and suggestions
• Have faith in coworkers and leaders to do their jobs correctly.
• Feeling at home sharing successes and shortcomings
• When asked, being able to provide truthful and precise employee  feedback

Communication

Communication has the potential to make or destroy even the most meaningful of relationships. Knowing not only how to deliver a message, but also how to receive it and get necessary feedback, is essential for effective communication. Employees who have strong contact can effectively understand and respond to crucial knowledge. Bad communication, on the other hand, can lead to misunderstandings, anger, and even productivity loss.

Communication is crucial at all levels of an organization, but face-to-face interactions, especially between managers and workers about success, are mission-critical opportunities for constructive communication. Try to practice communication skills more to avoid common teamwork mistakes. Consider the following questions:

• Are the managers meeting with you one-on-one daily?
• Are managers going deeper into communication details in one-on-one meetings?
• Are managers discussing results with their staff regularly?
• Are the meetings successful in the eyes of the managers and employees?

Collaboration

Examining the frequency and nature of communication within the organization is one way to understand relationships. Employees in highly collaborative companies work together to assess and solve challenges. They are well aware of the strength and ability to combine minds. Employees who collaborate on a job alongside others are more active, motivated, and willing to persevere through difficulties, according to research. As a manager, you need to motivate your team to make them feel strong collaboration in work and increase productivity.

Working with others provides a sense of transparency and energy that you cannot get through working alone. Collaboration, however, is not for all. It requires a culture of transparency, accountability, reviews, and collaboration. 

Diversity and Inclusion

Diverse and inclusive companies seem to be the most innovative. They recognize the value of diverse perspectives and experiences, and they aim to cultivate a society that values and celebrates human differences.

• 67 percent of career applicants wish to be part of a diverse squad.
• Inclusive companies have a 2.3x greater cash balance.
• Employees want companies to prioritize diversity.
• Employee views of diversity and inclusion provide insight into the quality of the company's partnerships.

We recommend managers ask themselves the following questions:

• Do employees believe their input is valued?
• Do they believe that everybody is treated equally?
• Do they have a sense of belonging with their coworkers?

Respect

This one may sound straightforward, but respect is often ignored or undervalued. Respect is the most significant factor in employee work satisfaction, but a high percentage of workers said they do not get that from their managers daily.

To different people, respect means different things. Here are a few examples of what respect in the workplace looks like:

• Providing daily and honest reviews
• Using consideration and empathy when dealing with others
• Providing employees with the tools and resources they need to complete their tasks
• Allowing for individuality and versatility
• Employees should be rewarded with their hard work.
• Listening rather than spoken

Empathy and Compassion

Employees deserve to be taken care of by their employer, their manager, and their coworkers. Compassion is described as a sincere desire to support and make others happier. Empathy, or putting oneself in someone else's shoes, is the first step toward compassion.

According to one survey, 92 percent of CEOs believe their business is compassionate, but just 50 percent of staff believe their manager is compassionate. That is a huge gap between management and staff! Thus, it leads to lack of conflict communication skills among managers. When you see the following signs in your workplace, you know it is full of caring and empathetic people:

• Employees are ready to put down their work to assist others.
• Employees get to meet one another on a personal basis.
• Managers and leaders place a high value on team bonding and growth practices.
• Employees help each other in both positive and negative circumstances.

The Bottom Line

Workplace relationships can affect your job satisfaction and productivity in either a positive or negative way. Building meaningful team relationships is a perfect way to inspire workers, build a friendly work atmosphere, and align the staff with the company's objectives and strategies. If you are a manager of a team you need to be able to recognize, measure and control these six things that can affect working relationships.