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Aug 18, 2020
Brenda R. Smyth, Supervisor of Content Creation
Would your colleagues recommend you for a job?
With the current pandemic pressing unemployment to record highs and leaving many of us furloughed, laid off, or just nervous, this question is particularly poignant right now.
And as much as we’d like to think that friends and former colleagues would lend a hand when we’re job hunting, there’s a big difference between someone getting your resumé in the right hands and someone feeling certain about being your champion.
The value of strong professional relationships is obviously critical to getting things done at work and being happy there. But those relationships may prove invaluable down the road too.
How can you build solid work relationships and a reputation that makes your current colleagues your biggest fans?
“Every day you’re choosing who you are and what you believe about yourself, and you’re setting the standards for the relationships in your life,” says author Rachel Hollis.
There are some people who seem to build strong working relationships with ease. High in emotional intelligence, they understand that in order to have strong relationships, they must know themselves, be excellent communicators, value others’ input (even when they disagree) and be respectful and trustworthy at all times.
Two of our newest live, virtual seminars can help you with workplace relationships: Strengthening Your People Skills in the Workplace or Developing Your Emotional Intelligence. Register now!
Take a closer look at your current workplace reputation and relationships. Correct any career-limiting behaviors and ways of thinking or responding. You may have unintentionally fallen into some bad habits.
And because of these things, you may have work relationships that are strained.
Sure, if you leave that job maybe those relationships don’t matter. But, with an eye to the future, every relationship matters. Build (or rebuild) your reputation. Consider where you might be falling short, change your behavior, and give colleagues plenty of evidence of the new, improved you.
Brenda R. Smyth
Supervisor of Content Creation
Brenda Smyth is supervisor of content creation at SkillPath. Drawing from 20-plus years of business and management experience, her writings have appeared on Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com and Training Industry Magazine.
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