The Long-Distance Teammate by Kevin Eikenberry

Author:Kevin Eikenberry [Eikenberry, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781523090303
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler

Why Relationships Matter

Let’s be more specific about why relationships are important. There are organizational, interpersonal, and personal reasons. Here are some of the most important benefits you will gain as your relationships with your coworkers improve:

■People do the work. And when we know those people and understand their situation, strengths, weaknesses and faults, and hot buttons, we will work with them more effectively.

■Communication improves. You know it is easier to communicate with people that you know. When you know who they are, and even how they might respond in each situation, you can be more effective at getting your message received. And since communication is important and already hindered at a distance, investing in relationships is valuable.

■Trust grows. The whole next chapter is about trust, but for now, time spent building and maintaining relationships will build this important factor at work.

■Stress and conflict are reduced. Since we don’t want more of these things (you might have enough of them in your life already), building relationships is like taking vitamins to help maintain a positive work experience.

■Work is faster and easier. When people know, like, and trust us, we will have stronger relationships. We respond quicker, put more effort into the communication, and enjoy working with those folks. Who doesn’t want that?

■Job satisfaction improves. Hundreds of studies show what we already know: we like our work better when we like the people we work with. Increasingly, we find our friends at work. And as our work moves remote (like yours has), this will become more challenging. Working remotely is already isolating; doing it when we don’t have a support system makes it even harder.

■Organizational results improve. All the “soft” reasons we’ve listed lead to one thing—better work output and productivity (there’s that 3P Model again!). While “getting along” isn’t all we need for great organizational results, it will amplify the strategy, the priorities, the goals, and all of the “harder” skills in the workplace.

Here’s our belief: relationships with others matter when you work remotely— maybe even more than when you see people every day.

We have two more goals for this chapter. We want to:

■Guide you in overcoming the hurdles of distance in building and maintaining relationships

■Give you specific actions you can take

But before we go any further, we must address the elephant in the room …

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