We talked Thursday about asking what we want from interactions with our colleagues at work, whether peers, juniors, or seniors. We want to place the relationships in a sustainable and productive context, and to be sure we begin to see ourselves as co-contributors rather than the center of a universe with only uncooperative problems for satellites.
It’s a powerful question, and one that really should be asked before any undertaking in the workplace: a meeting, a new initiative, a delegation, a negotiation – even a chance encounter; we should develop a mindset for approaching work this way which serves as the basis for our thinking and reactions in any setting.
So, it is worth taking a moment to make the argument again that this is neither calculating (or, at least, not coldly so), nor does it proscribe the eventual development of richer personal relationships than those based on “what can we do for each other?” assessments. What it is, though, is the fundamental basis for any relationship that begins at work – however more complex that relationship may become or into whatever other parts of our lives it may come to reach.
It provides the core integrity of any such relationship, one that does not rely on mistaken assumptions about others’ interests or one’s own perhaps pretentious self-regard. Moreover, whatever further aspects a relationship may take on, continuing to ask this question also remains the necessary basis for the interactions at work between the parties to it. If it isn’t, the entire relationship risks degenerating under the distortions suffered by those that were poorly sown and grown from the start.
The calculations prompted by the question, though, can be problematic, if not organized and worked out from the right perspective. We’ll look at that tomorrow. As always, we hope you’ll join us.
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This post is a part of a series. You can learn about and link to the other articles here: Managing life, work, and life at work
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Today’s tip: Please be sure to stop over and visit this month’s Leadership Development Carnival, hosted by Becky Robinson of LeaderTalk. It is a brilliantly organized collection of terrific resources, and it includes a clever link to a page allowing you to follow those authors that are on Twitter. Outstanding – check it out!
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