Six Coaching Strategies to Enhance Work Relationships
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Seventy percent of coaching clients report major benefits of coaching are enhanced workplace relationships, work performance and communication. Let's take a deeper dive into these key elements that coaches help their clients with to enhance their work relationships and communication at work. Obviously the two go together—the path to enhanced work relationships often involves communication improvements.
According to the Gallup organization, people who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs. Although many of our clients don't have a best friend at work, Gallup found that people who have what they characterize as a good friend in the workplace are more likely to be happy. Importantly good work relationships are linked to better customer engagement and increased profit.
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Why Have Good Work Relationships?
Since we spend one-third of our lives at work, we know that positive relationships with colleagues make one's career more enjoyable.
What are some organizational advantages of stronger work relationships, where people are comfortable and trust each other?
- Team members will be more confident contributing ideas and voicing opinions
- Better brainstorming
- More willing to embrace change and new ideas
- More creative and innovate problem solving
- High group morale
- Higher productivity
- Freedom to grow and pursue new opportunities in a supportive environment, instead of spending time and energy dealing with negative relationships
- Individuals who get along well with other people in the organization are often able to work across boundaries and get things done faster than those who don't maintain such cross organizational relationships
Elements of Positive Work Relationships
Positive work relationships require trust, respect, self-awareness, an inclusive attitude, and open communication.
Trust enables people to be open and honest with their thoughts and actions. They don't have to waste time or energy "watching their backs."
Respect leads people to value their colleagues' input.
Self-awareness enables team members to know themselves, understand the information in their feelings so they can better manage their own emotions and not accidentally project their own issues or frustrations onto others.
An inclusive attitude facilitates team members to welcome diverse opinions, taking the time to appreciate other perspectives which often leads to better decision-making.
Positive, open communication enables honesty in a psychologically safe space—the more effectively team members communicate the less friction and misunderstandings there will be.
The Importance of the Manager-Employee Relationship
Although it's a good idea to build and maintain good working relationships with everyone you work with, the relationship between a manager and employee is unique. Gallup found that the quality of the relationship between team members and their manager accounts for up to 70 percent of a team's engagement. Gallup's research also demonstrates that the well-being of employees is especially impacted by the emotional intelligence and stress management of the manager.
Manager to Employee Relationships
Regular one-on-one conversations between managers and their employees are important to the relationship building process. Managers are advised to show employees how their work fits with the organization's "big picture," as well as striving to understand their employees' strengths and how to apply them on the job, and help employees identify areas to further develop.
Employee to Manager Relationships
As an executive coach, I often explore with my clients how to "manage up" to analyze how their own manager prefers to work, anticipate their needs, and adapt for a smoother relationship. Often this means that the employee will ask them how they want to be kept informed on project status and at what stage they want to be notified if a problem arises.
Employee to Stakeholder Relationships
I find that some managers benefit from further investment in their relationships with key stakeholders. These stakeholders have a stake in their success or failure, and may include customers, constituents, extended team members, the media, and the board of directors. Forming a bond with them will help one's projects and career be more successful.
Six Strategies to Build Good Work Relationships
Building close connections usually takes time and effort. But there are also some straightforward steps coaches can take with their clients to help them forge better relationships with colleagues.
Identify Relationship Needs
Ask your client: What do you need from others? What do they need from you? Understanding these needs can be instrumental in building better relationships.
Develop People Skills
Ask your client: On a 1 – 5 scale with 5 being the highest, how well do you collaborate, communicate, and deal with conflict with the different people in your organization?
Mindfully Listen
A general rule of interpersonal dynamics is that people respond better to those who truly listen to what they have to say. I coach my clients to find opportunities with their colleagues to try talking less and understanding more. Listening carefully, without judgement, helps others feel engaged and one often learns something one didn't know by tuning into others with curiosity.
Schedule Time to Build Relationships
In addition to one-on-one meetings, even short interactions can be tremendously helpful to relationship building. My colleague, Dr. Relly Nadler, calls them micro-initiatives. Just taking one minute to acknowledge a colleague, mentioning two or three specific positive things they did or that you appreciate about them, is an effective way to make a deposit into the relationship bank.
Manage Boundaries
As important as positive work relationships are it is still important to manage the time involved. Help your clients make time for improving their workplace relationships if that is one of their goals but it is important to make sure that other work requirements are still met. Sometimes, a work relationship can impair productivity, especially when a colleague begins to monopolize time. Your coaching client may want assistance in role-playing how to set boundaries with social interactions with key colleagues.
Be Positive
Developing a reputation of positivity along with practicality helps clients be seen as a good example in the workplace. Positivity is contagious—I often say that the leader's mood is contagious. Some of your clients may want to make a goal of having a more positive reputation. Ask your client: What could you do this week to communicate to others that you have a positive feeling about them or the organization?
People will gravitate to, and be more influenced by, those that make them feel good. Managers that have caring relationships with their employees will foster more engagement, loyalty, and retention. Constructive work relationships start with strong people skills. These six strategies take a little time but lay the groundwork for strong relationships. The professional connections your clients will develop from these steps will further their career and your reputation as a valuable coach.
