Donna Flagg

Friendships at Work: Help or Hindrance?

I never really understood the debate over why friendships at work were considered a bad thing and why companies have historically discouraged personal relationships as if they somehow clash with professional ones. In my career, since day one, if I haven’t been working for or with friends, I’ve had friends working for me. There have never been any problems. In fact they are the strongest relationships and best work experiences I’ve had - by far. 

Recently, the pendulum has begun to swing away from the taboo notion that friendships at work threaten business results and toward what value may be inherent to having friendships in the workplace.  Employers are rethinking old mandates that expected employees to keep thier personal lives "outside."

But either way, whether you are for or against employee chumminess on the job, its success or failure will always depend on the individuals’ maturity, professionalism and ability to manage relationships both at work and at play.

A few key factors to keeping a good thing from going bad:

1    Never betray a confidence. You won’t be trusted by your friends or anyone else.

2    Talk openly about performance. Call a spade a spade and don’t take feedback personally.

3   Talk openly about feelings. Share your perspective so that you are understood as accurately as is possible.

4    Don’t gossip about other people. Friends, or not, people will think you gossip about them too.

5    Keep work separate from play. Know where the boundary lines should be drawn.

6    Be clear about obligations and fulfill them on both fronts. Letting people down either personally or professionally will not only hurt your relationships, but it will ding your reputation too.

Posted by Donna Flagg on May 4, 2008 | Comments (0)