Are you the type of person who goes to work, minds your business, executes tasks, and leaves? There is no harm in that, but also, having a friend or two can be impactful to your career, and perhaps make work a positive and fun environment.
Since most people spend more hours at work than at home, at times it’s necessary to have friends at work to share interests with, whether sports, politics, music, and so forth. You can’t be at work all day without interacting with the people you spend the most time with.
Everyone requires a good work support system. Having good relationships with your colleagues is believed to have a direct impact on your professional success.
Henrick Tayebwa, a businessman, believes in the saying, ‘no man is an island’, and he strongly believes that in any workplace, you need to learn from other people because when you think you know it all, you never learn.
He explains that this is why it is imperative to have friends you can count on, or rely on, as teamwork can push you to move forward or set goals, which isn’t the case if you try to figure out everything on your own.
He says that work friends can assess you, and guide you to do better in your weakest areas.
In addition, Tayebwa says that friends are fun, which makes life more colourful as opposed to solitary living.
"Friends at our workplaces assist in shaping us. The Bible is clear that iron sharpens iron and with friends around us, we are able to make mistakes that we can learn from, we are able to be corrected by these friends and ultimately evolve and change into better people,” Tayebwa says.
He adds that friends help in getting tasks done, as various ideas can be offered depending on the areas everyone is experienced or skilled in. At the end of the day, adding such ideas, expertise and efforts enables great results.
Tayebwa explains that life is full of valleys and hills, which is why friends help one get through them all, in challenging situations, they provide a listening ear and advice, and when everything is going great, they are part of the celebration.
He also says that friends can be an asset to career guidance as they can help you find out what your strengths are. It is the people who you work with that can easily identify this as they spend a lot of time with you.
According to Indeed Career Guide, a career platform, work relationships improve employee retention rates. A team that retains its key members usually delivers better long-term results, as everyone is accustomed to the professional styles and attitudes of their co-workers. Employees who feel connected to each other and to the company are less likely to seek employment elsewhere, not only because they’re satisfied professionally, but also because the personal relationships they have with their co-workers can be difficult to rebuild elsewhere.
"Having strong relationships with your co-workers can stimulate you to think creatively. Working in an environment where you feel tranquil about exhibiting your own personality can offer you the spur and support you need to produce innovative ideas and thoughts that can lead to more competent ways of doing things,” the site states.