Best Friend at Work

When it comes to work and life, I’ll get by with a little help from my friends.  That song, by the Beatles, is stuck in my head today – probably because my co-workers and friends have been so helpful and supportive to me over the last few weeks.

And, it got me thinking about Gallup’s Q12 employee survey question; “Do I have a best friend at work?”  Their research has indicated that having a best friend at work can greatly impact employee engagement.

Yet, I have met many managers who voice concerns about this question.  Some believe that work place friendships can sometimes get in the way of productivity.

Research has shown that although friends working together do socialize, their relationships contribute to better work-related communication.  They have greater collaboration and are able to challenge one another’s ideas in a constructive way.  Co-workers who know each other on a personal level are more willing to pitch in and help each other.  And, let’s face it; spending time with people you genuinely care about can make the days go faster.

Co-workers who do not have these types of relationships may compromise communications by being “too polite” or avoiding conflict.

There are numerous ways to build friendships at work.

Madd-Steiny has seen that when managers make time for dialogue with their teams about actions and results, team relationships are strong and healthy.  On the other hand, we have also observed when managers use a “dictatorial” style of leadership and tend not to share information or recognize actions and results; there is more jealousy, distrust and gossip.

So, how can you encourage friendships and healthy connections on your team?  Here are a couple of ideas:

• Assign projects to a team.  Assigning two or three employees to a particular project or task allows them to get to know each other better as they work toward the project goal.
• Discuss the research around friends at work with the team.  Identify ways to build strong, supportive and friendly relationships.
• Implement one or many of the various techniques that encourage co-worker to recognize each other on a day-to-day basis.
• Celebrate birthdays or other special occasions.
• Plan time with the team to just talk, laugh and connect.
• Learn together. Commit to time for the team to learn together in a workshop, webinar or read a book together over time.  Debrief personal and team learning from these events.

Your Friend, Georgine

A New Chapter for Do Respect™

We are really excited to share that our 3-minute video, Do Respect™, is about to be released by our new business partner and video distributor, Star Thrower.  Star Thrower offers the best training and development video and multimedia tools available.

This collaboration and release has been in the works for a few months now.  Sometime over the next week or so, we’ll be announcing the release and we hope you’ll help us share this great news by forwarding our release announcement to anyone you think is interested.  Better yet, we hope you’ll consider buying it for your own use!

As many of you know, Do Respect™ is a 3-minute inspirational video to engage employees to act in ways that enhance workplace culture.  We’ve already sold several copies of the video to companies, school districts and government agencies that are using it in a variety of ways.  Just today, I received an email inquiry from the judicial officer at a community college in Iowa.  Part of what she does for the college is teach conflict resolution skills to students.  She believes, as we do, that respect is very much a part of conflict resolution both in college and in life.  Her plan is to use the video when she’s counseling students to ensure that their attitudes don’t stunt their potential.  She is convinced that respect is the first step in reaching potential.  Wow!  That inspires us.

We look forward to sharing more stories like this one about how our video makes a difference in people’s attitudes, beliefs and actions.  And, we’d appreciate you looking out for our announcement about the release and helping us get the Do Respect message out far and wide!

With respect,

Lynae

Reputation

I read today on Forbes.com about America’s 10 most reputable and least reputable companies.  The list comes from the results of a survey by a research firm called the Reputation Institute.  They asked more than 30,000 consumers to share their perceptions about 150 companies based on four emotional indicators:  trust, esteem, admiration and good feeling.

This research was astounding to me because the results are derived from emotional indicators . . . not indicators of profitability, efficiency, effectiveness or value.  Emotional indicators.  I like knowing that someone is paying attention to how consumers feel about a company instead of just looking at someone’s buying habits.

So, when people do business with you or the company you work for, how do you think they feel?  At Madd-Steiny, we want our reputation to be one that’s based on our clients feeling valued, appreciated, and respected.  We built our company around six core values and we strive to ensure our actions and reputation are in alignment with them:

• Collaboration – we endeavor to leverage the wisdom and skills of our clients.
• Diversity – we honor varied opinions, perspectives and ideas.
• Integrity – we walk our talk.
• Communication – everything is out on the table and open for discussion.
• Accountability – we own our success and our mistakes.
• Fun – our work is serious business, but we make it fun!

With respect,

Lynae