Coworkers

1
Coworkers

• In order to be successful, one must
• Have a support of your coworkers
• Develop a personal relationship
• Know how to deal with difficult coworkers

2
Gaining the support of your coworkers

• Understand your role
• Be responsible and dependable
• Become trustworthy
• Acknowledge your coworker's skills and abilities
  individually, as well as in front of others

3
Gaining support (Cont)

• Offer to assist when possible
• Avoid bragging to your coworkers about
  professional or personal accomplishments
• Always do fair share of work in a group setting
• Show your coworkers you value their opinion

• Exchange favors whenever possible
• Avoid conflicts address the situation
  immediately if you sense a conflict arising

4
Develop personal relationships

• There are some kinds of relationships that should
  be favored and some that should be avoided
• Workplace relationships
• Workplace cliques
• Workplace romance

5
Workplace Friendships

• Its best to maintain causal professional
  friendships rather than closer personal
  friendships, because if a friend is not
  performing well at work, that friend might
  encourage other friends to cover up some of his
  shortfalls
• This may cause tension, or risky situations (one
  might get fired)

6
Workplace Cliques

• A clique is a small, exclusive group of people
  who share a common interest, belief or
  characteristic
• Oftentimes, cliques encourage separatism (versus
  a team environment)
• Avoid becoming an active participants of a clique

7
Workplace Romance

• Risk associated with romantic relations (sexual
  harassment) most organizations have strict
  policies discouraging dating between employees

8
Workplace romance, (cont.)

• Similarly, organizations discourage to have
  close, personal relationships with clients and
  customers
• Best is to avoid such relationships (situations)

9
Dealing with difficult coworker

• In dealing with a difficult coworker, it is best
  to
• Accept the fact that you are different and that
  you both might have difference in opinion

10
Difficult coworkers (cont.)

• Determine the cause of the conflict
• Keep the situation in perspective
• Evaluate possible alternatives and resolutions
• Discuss the situation with your coworker
• If all fails, discuss your situation with your
  boss or Human Resource Department

11
New employees

• As new employees come into organization, you can
  offer new employees a wealth of information about
  the organization that might assist them with
  their transition
• Make them feel welcome

12
New employees - tips

• Introduce yourself and let the employee know that
  you yourself are just recent employee
• Stop by and visit the new employees occasionally
  and see if they have any questions

Arndt, Terry and John Ricchini Backpack to
briefcase Steps to a successful career (p.28-31)