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Building Relationships
The most effective people are lifelong learners. They grow their careers by leveraging their strengths, compensating for their weaknesses, taking on new challenges, and “playing well with others”. For do-it-yourself career coaching, check out our free success tips.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS TOPICS
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When faced with a conflict, our natural reactions are based in biology. As described by the famous “Fight or Flight” syndrome, impending danger spurs us to either attack or run away. Unfortunately, “fight” tendencies can lead to destructive arguments, while “flight” reactions make us avoid difficult discussions. And neither one will ever solve the problem! To replace conflict with problem resolution, you must override your biology and make a plan for tackling those tough topics. Here’s how to do that:
Career success involves managing the image that you present at work. To be viewed in a professional light, you must give some thought to the way you are perceived. Here are eight topics that you would be smart to avoid.
Success at work depends on both results and relationships. The seven people listed below can increase your success or make your life easier, so developing and maintaining positive relationships with them is a good idea.
Here’s a cross-cultural joke: An American was visiting a cemetery one day when he noticed an Asian gentleman putting a bowl of fruit on a grave. “When do you think your friend will be eating that fruit?” he asked. “The same time that yours will be smelling those flowers,” the other man replied.
This story makes a clear point about the blindness of cultural biases. The way we’ve always done things makes sense to us, but not necessarily to others. And the habits, words, and gestures of ‘those other people’ may seem confusing or odd to us. In an increasingly cross-cultural workplace, many misunderstandings can arise from cultural differences in communication. Some common areas of difference are listed below.
More and more people are working with colleagues that they never see. In a recent study of U.S companies having more than 5000 employees, Brandman University surveyed 135 key managers about their use of virtual teams (http://www.brandman.edu/research/), finding that 40% of the companies already use them extensively and 56% expect their use to increase.
Instead of communicating face-to-face, these widely distributed employees are collaborating computer-to-computer, creating some predictable challenges. The following tips for making virtual teams work include suggestions from Susan Gerke, adjunct professor at Brandman and author of “Working Remotely”.
The advice for employees is followed by suggestions for their managers.
The cultural differences described below are often observed in organizations. Since these are stereotyped descriptions, many organizations will exhibit characteristics of more than one type.
Coworkers can be very annoying! At Your Office Coach, we hear from lots of people who want their colleagues to stop doing something – talking, whistling, coming in late, eating at their desk, wearing tacky clothes, and on and on. These complainers are usually looking for an easy, painless way to deal with the situation. That may be impossible, but here are some helpful suggestions.
Secrets to Winning at Office Politics
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