Offer free help. A simple easy way to stand out to your colleagues and
superiors is by offering help without being asked for it. If you're practicing
empathy and working on your leadership skills, you should be able to notice
when others are having a hard time on a particular issue. Most people you work
with will help when they're asked, but offering your assistance before anyone
else has to ask will set you apart from your peers.
- Don't just offer general or vague help. Take note of what others are working on or struggling with and offer specific ways to assist on that matter.
Show appreciation at every step. Depending on the field you work in, it may be easy to feel
that your job is more important than other peoples' jobs. However, that simply
isn't true. No position at your place of employment could function without the
tireless efforts of countless other workers, many of whom may remain largely
unseen from your office. If you want to build strong professional
relationships, you must respect and appreciate everyone you work with and
everyone who works for you.
- If someone makes a mistake, don't jump right to confrontation. Let your colleague or employee know that you appreciate his/her efforts and understand that they tried. Praise that person for what was done correctly and offer guidance (rather than criticism) on how that task could be better completed in the future.
- Be sincere in your praise of others. Let others know that you appreciate the work they do and the effort they contribute towards all of the projects that come through your office.
Take an interest in
coworkers/employees. In many corporate jobs, it's easy
for employees to feel like cogs rather than individuals. If you want to build
and foster strong professional relationships, take a real interest in your
coworkers' and employees' lives. Remember that each employee is a human who has
meaningful experiences and has personal thoughts and feelings.
- Remain professional when you show an interest in others at work. Don't ask inappropriate questions and don't poke fun at anyone. Instead, ask whether your coworkers or employees had a good weekend/holiday/vacation, and if the individual you're talking to elaborates on what he did, use that as an opportunity to get to know him better.
- Practice listening instead of talking. Get to know what others in your workplace like or dislike, and try to understand them on a human level without judging them.
Practice networking. Networking is an important way to build and expand on
professional relationships. But a poorly-executed networking attempt smacks of
desperation and desire. Instead of going into a situation hoping blindly for
some kind of connection to form, go in prepared to network and equipped with
the proper skills.
- Attend networking events in your field, and consider any professional get-together through your work as a potential opportunity to network with others.
- Don't dismiss anyone. You may want to hone in on the person you perceive to be most "valuable" to you or your career, but there's a good chance that person doesn't want or need to network. Anyone you meet in any professional capacity could be important, and you could be important to that person.
- Have a plan, but not an agenda. It's important to know what you want to talk about and what kind of professional relationship you'd like to develop, but don't go into an interaction thinking you'll be able to walk away with an offer from a stranger.
- Be open, honest, and friendly at all times. This will help you come across as the kind of person others want to work with and invite into their own professional networks.
- Follow up with contacts you made, and be sure to follow through on any offers you may have made to others. It will show others that you're a person of your word and that you may be a mutually beneficial person to network in the future.
