Improve Your Job Satisfaction by Understanding your Coworkers
Knowledge is power.
This is true of intellectual knowledge, of course, but it is also true in the sense of knowing others in the workplace.
Bringing a group of people together into an office of all different backgrounds, personalities, and work styles in hopes that they mesh well could be a recipe for disaster. For this reason, a deeper understanding of who your coworkers are, as human beings, remains vital to building strong relationships. This will ensure your team works in a more cohesive manner.
Fostering Healthy Working Relationships
Knowing your coworkers well doesn’t mean sharing all the intimate details of your life outside of the office. Here are some ways that employers can foster healthy workplace relationships:
How to Develop Deeper Connections with Your Coworkers
- Personality Assessments – Taking a group personality test and going over the results as a group can be a great team building exercise. Moreover, personality tests will bring awareness to strengths and weaknesses so that you and your coworkers can work more cohesively. The Myers Briggs assessment is a highly reputable personality test that gives in-depth results that have significant relevance to how individuals function in the workplace.
- Communication Styles – Knowing the communication styles of your coworkers will help avoid miscommunications and misunderstandings. Personality tests can reveal this information about a person as well. Additionally, we look to Emotional Intelligence for empathic communication.
- Effective Praise – Ask your coworkers what makes them feel most appreciated (e.g. written praise, public announcement, verbal praise in private, a quick hive five for a job well done). Knowing how to acknowledge a job well done and tailoring the delivery of said praise to the individual can demonstrate that they are valued and appreciated.
Create a Cohesive Team Atmosphere for Success
When you and your coworkers have a deeper understanding of how each other operates as a fellow human being, a sense of belonging results along with increased office morale.
“A department, or company, that works well together, has the most success together. When you enjoy working with your colleagues and look forward to interacting with them, everyone benefits,” says Andy Teach, author of From Graduation to Corporation: The Practical Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder One Rung at a Time.
A deeper understanding of your coworkers in this way will improve:
- Productivity – When a group of people possesses intimate knowledge of one another, strong mutual trust forms. Trusting that your teammates will complete their tasks boosts overall confidence in one another, and spurs increased business value.
- Communication – Understanding how to best communicate with each other will avoid those workplace blunders with which we are all too familiar.
- Employee Satisfaction – When you and your team feel understood, appreciated and consequently accepted in the workplace, everyone benefits.
Get to Know Your Coworkers
If your workplace culture encourages an attitude of, “I’m here to work, not to make friends”, you may have missed an opportunity to increase productivity and improve office morale. Consequently, when everyone works to benefit only themselves, team productivity falls short for lack of working toward a common goal.
Thus, making an intentional effort to connect with your coworkers on a deeper level not only creates a more cohesive team, but it also reveals hidden talents within individuals. Ultimately, it benefits everyone within your organization when you and your coworkers connect. Take a moment to gain a better understanding of your coworkers, and watch as your satisfaction at work increases as a direct result of meaningful relationships.
Besides, if you’re spending 8 hours a day with those physically near you, why not get emotionally closer as well?
