Benefits of good interpersonal relationships at work

Our daily life is widely based on interaction with our co-workers, hence having good interpersonal relationships at work can mark a big difference in work happiness. Depending on the country and corporate culture, 5 of the 24 hours a day are limited in direct contact with our colleagues.  With such a high level of daily contact with our office mates, shouldn’t we seriously consider the benefits of good interpersonal relationships at work?

Depending on the hierarchy and the mindset chosen to balance a personal and professional life, we choose between keeping a completely separate personal life and work, or on the contrary, handling them in a parallel way, supporting each other.

From my personal point of view and life project, I find it more beneficial to focus on personal branding. By personal brand, I refer to the coherent image that we project in all facets of our life. Whether it is the image projected with friends, clients, colleagues, family, I have always considered that making myself known coherently and transparently will be useful for professional and personal success.

Coming from a Latin culture where strict hierarchies are more common than equality in companies, good interpersonal relationships are not always a priority. However, I have always supported flat organizational structures and a combination of personal and professional life to get more success. I believe more in leadership rather than in the role of a boss who little knows about the private life of his/her team members.

Dedicating minutes of your personal life to your co-workers, especially if you are a leader of a team, help to forge better bonds and encouraging creativity.

According to my experience, working with people who know you and having good relationships is more profitable and enjoyable than working with people; you are just one more piece in the organizational system. Unlike the traditional work culture of my country of origin in Latin America, I have always admired and naturally adopted the business and work culture of countries such as Sweden. In Nordic countries, the business is based on working together as a team, making sure that concepts such as equity are put into practice to listen and consider everyone’s ideas.

Dedicating minutes of personal life to your co-workers, especially if you are a team leader, helps to forge better bonds and encourage creativity. When the leader cares for the team, the teams feel appreciated, committed and confident in suggesting ideas to develop and take the business to the next level.

By sharing some aspects of my personal life in the professional area, I have experienced a special synergy in the team that heps making things more efficient. Below I share some of my experience:

• Getting to know my office colleagues more thoroughly has helped me work better on creative tasks and team synergy projects.
• Connecting with my clients in the personal field has helped me build healthy sales accounts with a long-term growth and sustainability profile.
• Showing true interest in suppliers’ personal life has helped me create relationships of trust and success, even in cases where deadline seemed impossible to fulfil.
• Considering my office colleagues as friends have made the work more enjoyable and helped develop the company’s sense of loyalty and commitment more easily.
• Having creative sessions accompanied by friends is more enjoyable and leads to better results.
• Knowing deeply the people I work with has helped me identify each team member’s strengths and weaknesses. Only then I can create processes that allow each one to shine with their best skills and ideas.
• Having friendship ties inside the company makes it easier to face difficult times. Friends tend to support each other easier during tough times, so this leverage of an intimate social circle can help find solutions faster when issues appear.
• Work is more satisfactory since it relates to the professional field and includes aspects of personal life.
• Productivity and energy in the work environment are more notorious when working with close people.

Of course, not everything is as easy and happy as it seems when working with people who are considered friends. You can compromise difficulties such as conflicts of interest and decision making. However, everything lies in the team’s maturity to be responsible and not take advantage of good personal relationships to achieve work benefits.

Having good interpersonal relationships at work will be reflected in the success of the team, your professional and personal brand, and thousands of innovative ideas to grow the business.

Please feel free to experiences with me below in the comments. If you like this article and want to receive more inspiration, subscribe to our newsletter. Alternatively, feel free to follow TintoHub on Instagram.