From the gamut of different
relationships that I have come across, I believe relationships at workplace are
the most complex one. The complexity attached to this equation is attributable
to multiple factors and decoding this entails tons of maturity. Logically, if
we see today’s working conditions, an individual spends most of his/her life in
office. It’s quite obvious that if we spend considerable time with folks in
office, we tend to get closer to them than anyone else especially when the
workplace is not in your hometown. It’s also obvious that we will carry similar
emotions for them that we would have for our near and dear ones as they fall in
the same bucket but from a different source.
Healthy relationships at
workplace have countless benefits and can surely generate better results than
it would generate otherwise. This works even better if it’s a team work and
most/all of the team members are known to each other before the kick start of
the project. This simply means that the team can save time in on-boarding & getting
to familiarize with each other. Team members will know and easily grasp/adapt
to the working style of the other members which is mainly driven from their
acquaintance. The best thing about this arrangement is the excitement amongst
the members to work with their besties and to get away with the hassles of
working with someone whom they know partially or don’t know at all.
It’s a known fact that if the
members are absolutely comfortable with the working environment, they tend to
give their best as they don’t carry the baggage of apprehensions relating to
other team members. Also the members get
along well for work purposes as well and are not hesitant to share their views
or voice out routine challenges/issues, if any. This further strengthens the
teaming between different members and diminishes the possibility of people
issues which is one of the most common epidemic and can create a dent on the
smooth flow of the project. Till the point we talk about healthy relationships,
it has countless benefits and surely better than any other arrangement. But I
wish life was as seamless as it seems to be.
The same arrangement can be
equally complicated and hollow if we see things outside the project output. We
should also be mindful of the fact that independence is an indispensable pre-requisite
of any organization/project/work arrangement. Independence is presumed to be
hampered the moment any relationship is established/known like sibling,
husband-wife and any entity would make sure to place them separately in a way
that they don’t cross ways with each other. But why is this done? What if two
sisters or husband-wife working together can produce best results? That simply
means that there is something much more important than the work productivity.
If the independence can be hampered for established/known relationships, it can
surely cast shadows on other equations like close friendship.
Imagine someone appraising his
wife, interviewing his brother, allocating work to his son, providing feedback
to his best friend etc. Can we assume that all of these scenarios are as normal
as any other appraisals/interviews/work allocations/feedbacks? The answer may
be yes but no one would advocate this and would consider the outcome to be
objective. That’s one of the grey area which makes relationships at workplace quite
toxic and raises eyebrows from everyone irrespective of the level of
objectivity maintained. Sometimes the safest bet to avoid an issue is to avoid
the situation which can create the issue.
I have come across many cases
where members themselves raise hands requesting for change of arrangement as
they sense compromise of independence at a very early stage. I strongly feel
that if someone is genuinely interested in one’s career and in a close
relationship, the smallest favor they can do to everyone is to avoid working
with the concerned person so that no one is prompted to question the
arrangement and also they can be relieved of the pressure for not being
objective. Maintaining healthy relationships and independence is the moral
responsibility of every personnel and more we embrace it, lesser is the
probability that it will have adverse effect on anyone!!!
Disclaimer: Nothing written in this blog has reflection of any
individual known to me/place of my work. It’s purely based on experiences we
come across quite often and share with each other.
