Help Your Co-workers To Be Happy at Work

Happy at work

To be happy at work it is important to enjoy and learn from your co-workers. A cohesive team makes work more enjoyable. It is important to form good relationships with people in your workplace. Your co-workers will become part of the network you will use in the future when you are looking for a new job. Studies show you increase job satisfaction with solid workplace friendships. Consider these tips to establish significant relationships. Remember when you help others you end up helping yourself too.

1. Align with top performers. Find the acknowledged top performers in your company and interact with them. Be aware of skills and talents you have that could help them. Offer to help when appropriate. When I was new to my sales group I sat next to an experienced sales executive. Since he had many new accounts and I had none (I was in training) I offered to call his new potential customers to see if they had an immediate need and make an appointment. I was very successful and he was grateful. When he got promoted he recommended me to take one of his best accounts!
2. Create an influence map. This is a short list of people inside and outside your department that can have a positive influence on your career. Get to know some of these people.
3. Nurture the relationships that can do you the most good. . A sales executive I knew had a great sense of humor. He connected with a Vice President by making a joke that she found really funny. Later when she was able to, she promoted him to a manager in her district. I must admit that I was horrified at the time because I thought he was incompetent. The tip works however and some very competent people move forward this way.
4. Meet co-workers one on one to get to know them better and form deeper connections. Look for common interests inside and outside work. Are there ways for you to work together? As a sales person selling a technical product I was often assigned a technical support person. Getting to know many technical support people made it easier for me to know who to request for support. I looked for people I could depend on and who I got along with. The right person made the work more fun!
5. Ask people in other departments to help you to understand how their department works. In my sales job I got to know the people who placed the orders. They helped me to understand how the order should be written to avoid mistakes. It was a very busy department but they attended to my orders immediately because they knew and respected me.
6. Keep the conversations you have with co-workers positive. No one wants to be around negative Nellie. If you are down on the company keep it to yourself. Find upbeat topics to discuss with co-workers. If you have problems at home, hire a professional who can help you to solve the problem.
7. Offer to cover for someone who is on vacation. This offer has two benefits. You learn what the responsibilities someone else has and you now have someone who will likely do the same for you when you take a vacation.
8. Say positive things about your co-workers publically. Everyone likes acknowledgement. If you know someone did a bang-up job on something, mention it to others. Your other co-workers will be pleased to be “in-the-know” and the co-worker who you acknowledged will feel good. When someone supported me really well, I would send a message expressing my gratitude for the good job to his/her manager.
9. Offer to assist when you can in high profile projects. These are the projects everyone is watching. It is good to be visible to your manager and other interested managers. Obviously you want to do good work so that your exposure will be positive.
10. Keep in touch with those with whom you established relationships when they or you move on. Whether you move on or a colleague does, stay in touch. Your network is helpful especially if you connect with people frequently so they know about you and your career. Most people begin to think about their network when they begin to look for a new job. It is better to have a warm network to use in times of need.

Tips gleaned from Money Magazine article Help Co-workers Help You

*Song from the Book of Mormon with lyrics and music by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone

Coaching Opportunity

Not everyone who is unhappy at work needs to change jobs. I’ve worked with many clients who just needed a spark to ignite their understanding of facets within their current job that need adjustment. The spark helped them to see a situation in different ways, view their job from another perspective and then find a new way to work. I can do the same for you. That is why they call me a sparker. Email me at asparker@asparker.com or call me at 781-598-0388.