Friendship : Clique to Click

Clique to Click

By: Mole Antolo

Everybody needs someone to lean and depend on. Someone to talk with may it be in our home or in the office, when time gets tough. Sounds something romantic? You might think that it is a late valentine article and not proper for a Marching month, right? 

In our busy life, we missed to notice that from simple introduction to each other, our classmates or office mates, and even our neighbors becomes our best buddy.  We spent most of our time in the office, school and even other houses (making chismis) , and find ourselves soaked with work-load but thanks to our Best Full-Force Friend or BFFF, my own version of BFF. They just saved the day by their simple words of encouragement, funny and corny jokes, simple chit-chat  we divert our stress and give ourselves a little laugh and thankful enough for reminding us that “hey you are not alone in the office so don’t stress yourself too much”. Not only do work friends provide social benefits, especially when it comes to going to lunch or taking a coffee break, but they also serve in a variety of supporting roles, including sounding board, cheerleader, workplace confidante, honest critic and back-up player, to name a few.

 A recent Robert Half International survey found that 63 percent of employees and 57 percent of executives polled said that office productivity also increases with office camaraderie. Some offices recognize these benefits and so they make a point that every team engaged in a team-building activities to foster closer bonds among employees.

Here are some tips to have a good working relationship with our office mate but at the same time our work will not be sacrifice, let us march to check out some of my tips that works: 

• Choose your associates carefully - Workplace relationships should enhance your career, not hinder it. Be very careful to those people who wear transparent mask. They make sound like your ideal friend but in reality they are the worst people you wish you never meet. Just be yourself even if they are not.

•     Don’t become cliques = Be careful in forming such close bonds with select coworkers that you’re viewed as part of a two-person clique. Fellow employees may be less likely to share information with you because they fear that it would automatically be shared with your office pal. So while it’s generally acceptable to have close friends at work, be aware of the need to maintain your own personal identity in the office, and always assume an inclusive distance in your interactions with colleagues.
•    Keep your socializing in check = Never forget that work comes first.  If you’re not careful, these seemingly harmless but long conversations will become a distraction to everyone and become hindrance in office productivity. So be true others and not someone you are not. Even if you don’t wish to become popular, you will, because everybody would love you in their own way because they see real you.
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•   Be a friend, not a doormat. = Don’t let overly demanding or needy colleagues take advantage of a close relationship. . Also, don’t hesitate to re-evaluate the relationship if it seems that your friend is never available to return the favor when you’re in a jam. You are a friend willing to listen and even give your opinion but never let your friend treat you like you are a doormat, that you are just their to absorb all her/his woes in life.

Friend will always be a friend, near or far. Ready to listen and be with you even you are miles away. Distance is not reason for two people to communicate, that why we have technology now. We have many means to communicate with friends, +Facebook, +Skype  and +Twitter , delete those in your phone if you're not gonna used those stuffs.

Coffee and lunch breaks remain the best time to catch up on the non-work topics you have in common with professional friends. So take it easy and laugh a bit.  Anyone who has ever had a close friend in the office knows these relationships can make work life more enjoyable even after office hours.