From our archive. This article was published on 22 August 2019. Rules and amounts may have changed since.
Colleagues are an important motivator for coming to work.
After all, all employees enjoy their work more when they have a good bond with their colleagues. They also go to work in a more relaxed frame of mind. In addition, colleagues can be each other’s support and mainstay when the emotional load is high. But how do you confide in a colleague, especially if you barely know them? Everyday contact lowers the threshold for giving and receiving support. Without contact, that becomes harder…
Important information is passed on faster when colleagues on the shop floor know each other. Colleagues also give each other more meaningful feedback, and employees more often get the chance to learn something from a colleague. It is good for team spirit when colleagues get along well, because working together immediately runs a lot more smoothly. A joke in passing, brief moments of contact in the corridor or at the coffee machine, … It creates short moments of relaxation, which in turn are better for concentration. Much better, even, than surfing a social media site or a news site during your break. So it reduces stress and increases productivity!
Tips:
- Invest in a good bond with your colleagues.
- Use your colleagues as a sounding board when your emotional load is high.
- Get to know your new colleague(s) by having lunch together or explaining something to them.
- Introduce new colleagues to others.
- Acknowledge each other for what you do with a well-placed compliment.
- Invest in each other; celebrate your successes together, e.g. by treating everyone now and then.
- Encourage informal contact between colleagues; a worthwhile investment for your organisation.
- As a boss, set a good example and make it clear that it is fine for colleagues to stand chatting a little longer at the coffee machine.
- Bring colleagues together at a drinks reception (with a short speech from the boss!), a team day, …
- Would a buddy or mentoring system be a constructive idea for the workplace?
- Don’t be a helicopter boss: as a boss, take a step back too and leave employees on their own now and then.
- Encourage internal contact and knowledge sharing.
- Feel free to hold a peer-review session (intervision) if colleagues do not spontaneously share much with each other.
- Provide a space where informal contact is possible, with enough privacy, e.g. a small meeting room.
Would you like to find out more about happiness at work? Contact us or take a look at our services for businesses and organisations.