If you are able to make genuine connections with your employees or coworkers, youâll find youâll be better able to overcome challenges as a team and grow both as an individual and as a company. Of course, making lasting, deep connections is about more than water cooler small talk.
Here are a few strategies that can help you to build meaningful connections in the workplace:

⢠Do something together outside of the office. Itâs hard for people to be their true selves when they only interact with their coworkers in the office. Arrange to have fun activities and events every so often to get people from the office together to bond and learn more about each other. It can help to lighten the mood and get people more comfortable with each other, opening them up to creating these kinds of connections.
⢠Be consistent. You donât want other people approaching you with the sense that they always have to gauge your mood. If people know what to expect from you at all times, theyâll be more likely to approach you and be willing to make connections with you. Even if youâre having a bad day, itâs important that you donât âpoison the well,â so to speak, by letting your mood infect others.
⢠Give full attention. If, for example, you have an employee or coworker come up to you while youâre working, donât attempt to multitask â youâll come off as uninterested and distant. By giving people your full attention, you show you respect what they are saying and are taking an active interest in it.
⢠Be the first to reach out. Not everybody is outgoing enough to make the first move to forge a connection with coworkers. Take it upon yourself to be the first one to make the leap. Share more about yourself, ask questions about others and let people know through your actions that they can be completely comfortable being themselves and voicing their opinions.
By forging lasting connections in the workplace, youâre helping to create a better work atmosphere, which in turn leads to a healthier, happier company. Contact us today at Viral Solutions for more tips.
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
by Thomas von Ahn | Chief Elephant Slayer
