One of the best predictors of your happiness at work is whether you have colleagues where you are close by. You don’t necessarily have to be friends with your colleagues – that means that you may not want to hang out with them outside work – but you want people with whom you feel that you can talk and share your experiences.
Unfortunately, many people feel that they have no one at work that they know very well. Workplaces have become more efficient, and therefore there is less time for people to talk to their relationships with others. Moreover, even at workplaces where everyone works on the spot, many meetings have still been made via video conference, so it is difficult to make contact with your colleagues before or later to say a few words.
If you feel lonely at work, there are a few things you can do.
Make space and time for relationships
Developing better relationships with your colleagues may seem a waste of time, but it is not. It not only helps to predict satisfaction in the workplace, but having close colleagues also helps to build trust.
A number of trust structure includes the demonstration of people that you will perform tasks that you have promised and your work is doing well. But a lot of trust is built up by relationship development. You tend to trust people you know well. When you show people in the details of your life, you show some vulnerability, which also builds trust.
Indeed, if you think about it, the people with whom you are closest in your life are people with whom you share a lot of your life. They know what you like, what you want and what you have done. They have shared good times and poorly. That sharing trust also has influence on the workplace, and that is why it is valuable to reserve some time to build your relationships with others.
Take an initiative
If you feel lonely at work, you can also feel rejected by others. You can look around and see other people conversations and wonder why nobody spoke to you. You may even be able to ask yourself if there is something wrong with you that prevents other people from dealing with you.
Instead of wallowing in the feeling that you don’t deserve to be close to your colleagues, it does something about it. Invite a colleague for coffee or lunch. Bring photos of your children, pets, plants or the products of your hobbies. Create opportunities for people to get to know you better.
Over the years I have collected and built various LEGO models. I brought the completed models to my office and I give them there again. They are partly there because I think they are fun. But they are also here to generate conversations when people come to my office. It creates a light moment to talk about something that is not related to work that builds my relationship with colleagues. It is something small, but I think it has an impact.
Build a group
For many people it can be difficult to try to build relationships with one person at the same time. If you are socially awkward, you may not want to have conversations, but you would still like to feel that you are part of a team.
In that case you may want to find a group at work or start that occasionally comes together around an activity to build a community. Use lunch hours once or twice a month to start a book club or take the time before or after the working day to make a voluntary effort. A group with a common goal is a great way to feel connected to your team. That spirit can feed on the workplace.
Constructing a group like this is different from the traditional team building activity that workplaces often create. These activities are often forced to a group. They are ready once. They may be nice, but they don’t create anything that lasts. The groups that I suggest are intended to continue to exist over time to develop a series of relationships and to impose a collection of memories that ultimately create a more coherent workplace.
#deal #loneliness #work