It's the Little Things that Make Good (Work) Relationships...

Posts from Communications specialists like myself are mostly oriented towards big important-sounding skills: leadership, team-building, conflict resolution, negotiation... And while these are critical skills that need developing, the reality of the work environment is that 99% of the time, we are not focussed on such lofty ideals, but rather are just getting on with the job and interacting with our colleagues.

But in fact, this is where most of our relationship-building occurs. Today, try out these few things...  see if they make a difference.

• Smile

• Listen

• Answer that email in person (i.e. get up and go and speak with your colleague, don’t reply electronically)

• Compliment a colleague on something

• Talk to someone lower down the food chain about how they’re doing

• If you're a manager, do something nice for your employees

What goes around comes around. Imagine if everyone you worked with took the time to do this kind of thing more often...  What a difference that would make to your work environment!