Friends OR Foes

Lot of powerful decisions made in the world today are not because it is always correct but because a group of like-minded people sit down and define it as the universal law, such is the power of networking! We humans are emotional beings born to socialize and network because it is in our instinct to connect, communicate, construe and construct an interactive world around us!

Although interaction is an innate skill in us, each one of us will have own set of priorities in picking a friend. We look for commonalities and comfort levels to open up with peers and this comes gradually with time and trust. But until that time it is better to engage in small talks with positive vibes, ensuring that you are neither too intimate in the first meeting itself nor a reclusive rogue!

But in today’s fact paced lives, workplace seems like a twenty-twenty match, where people hurriedly jump jobs like branches in a tree, rendering camaraderie as a transactional commodity in short supply, “Talk less work more” is no more a restrictive imposition but a clever nonchalant choice adopted by many to steer clear of plastic relationships. Because we live in times where we look for quick returns in any investment even if it were to be time!

Perhaps it is easier to bond and make friends when young or on your first job but as you hit your 30s you might engage in casual friendships and even small talks but hard to harvest a real friendship because of the ever changing deployments and you cannot get too close too soon. Trust takes a while to seep into a relationship, but time constraints, varied priorities, varied status and backgrounds, incomes, competition and the race to climb the ladder first, drowns the need to seek new friends and people feel that they can always go back to their old bunch of friends in times of need.

It is true that you carve your identity by proving your contributing worth, but for these striding stokes of success, a well weaved social connect is equally important! And it is this social connect and friendship that can make or break relations and regimes.

The veteran of entrepreneurship and founder of Infosys Mr. Narayan Murthy says “There has to be only one boss for a business to be successful” with well written plans and clear responsibilities. We have also seen partnerships work with flowing ease, as in the case of Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, founders of Flipkart, these friends who turned partners have no reason to look back!

In the corporate jungles we don’t get to pick colleagues but healthy workplaces are built by bridging gaps with Inclusive friendships: Bonding with people is your choice but when you form your own groups, you could potentially be isolating and excluding them; Helpful interactions: Being helpful to a colleague does not mean you go out of the way but a little accommodative approach will go a long way in establishing you as a dependable and easy to approach person; Respect and trust: never disagree instantly, be a patient listener, open up to adverse and annoying point of views and then put across your ideas and explain as to why it is better that way. Goodwill and respect can be garnered with a give and take policy, when this is practiced with everyone, immaterial of the status trust brews. Don’t rush into intimacies or take quick sides, just join in, have conversations on stress relieving and positive topics but make sure you don’t leave the other person behind! Don’t just sulk and complain, hear out problems and talk about solutions! Confront and compliment but leave it behind when you step out of the meeting room. Being frugal is flamboyant when in the untested waters of friendship!

But it is never a good idea to remain reclusive as it reflects on your interpersonal skills and at the end of the day you should feel cheerful and comfortable entering your cubicle. Your job satisfaction and success level is directly proportional with your happiness quotient at the workplace!

By Mayura Rao

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