Nightmare on Scary Street

Imagine this, you are entering a dark building where the only light is a flickering bulb at the end of the corridor. The building is empty except for yourself and the fear now building inside you. As you walk cautiously through the once crowded office, the sound of your heart beating is so loud you’re unable to hear the banging of the open window caused by the icy cold wind. Suddenly a stark realisation comes over you, this is your office, and all of your colleagues have left you. Your mind races to make sense of it all, then it comes to you – they’ve gone not through being consumed by a zombie virus or a werewolf invasion, no they left because your place of work has become…….toxic!!!!

Let’s hope you never experience this nightmare, and that your workplace is a positive and vibrant place to work. However, it’s not always that easy to ensure your team and colleagues feel engaged. In our previous blog, Will talked about the lack of drive and connection amongst people in a team. This month’s blog is all about how we build relationships to help to understand and get the best out of each other.

Here are 8 top tips

It starts with you!

• Be genuinely interested in others: Ask about their day, weekend, or interests outside of work.
• Be mindful of your own body language – A simple smile and greeting can make a big difference in how approachable you appear.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate
• Listen – Pay attention when others speak, show empathy, and avoid interrupting.
• Build trust – Open and honest communication builds trust. Share information and ideas openly and encourage others to do the same
• Adapt your style – think about how like to communicate (fast paced or considered?) and think about how others communicate (are they the same or different?).

Support Others

• Offer help and support: Be willing to assist colleagues or team members with their tasks or projects when needed.
• Share credit: Acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of others. Celebrate team successes together.

Show Appreciation

• Express gratitude: Thank colleagues for their help or input, no matter how small.
• Recognise achievements: Acknowledge when someone does a good job, either privately or publicly (how do they like to receive praise?).
• Celebrate milestones: Participate in celebrating birthdays, work anniversaries, or other important events.

Build Trust

• Be reliable: Follow through on your commitments and be consistent in your behaviour.
• Maintain confidentiality: Keep private conversations and sensitive information confidential.
• Be respectful: Treat everyone with respect, regardless of their role or position.

Be Authentic

• Be yourself: Authenticity fosters trust and genuine connections.
• Share your experiences: Let others get to know you by sharing appropriate personal stories or experiences.
• Be consistent: share your values and let your actions align with your words, demonstrating integrity.

If you are experiencing challenges about getting your team or your colleagues to work together better, why not gives us a call? We’d be happy to sit down over a coffee and talk it through. We help many businesses to overcome such issues with our creative and supportive approach which doesn’t start and finish in the training room. We can help with engagement surveys to find out what’s really stopping your people from feeling fully engaged at work alongside designing and delivering tailormade training and team building that makes a real difference.

Also check out our calendar of training on our website which covers our short and longer workshops for the rest of this year and for 2025 and hopefully you’ll avoid the relationship nightmare and ward off the impending doom of disengaged people!

Happy Halloween everyone, stay safe.