Benefits flow freely when staff have time to build relationships

We are now seeing different structures and models of work and technologies coming together.

One of my most admired teams ­allows time in their week to bake together. Preparing and sharing food enables serendipity and creative thinking, and breaks down barriers. They use technology to bring people together in the ­moment from kitchen to kitchen, so team members based in other locations share the conversation, if not the food.

We now are seeing different structures and models of work and technologies coming together. These create opportunities we might not have imagined even just a few years ago in the way we build and sustain relationships. At the same time, they also can hinder the relationships people form at work and their support structures. This may mean that we need to work even harder at connecting.

Often undervalued is the support people get from peers. These relationships build up across time, often through casual interaction and shared experience. They offer social and emotional benefits, from information and advice at work to wider career support. In some cases they turn into co-mentorships, where parties support each other equally, ­focusing on their joint success, sharing information and ideas, and giving each other feedback and guidance: “What do you think about …?” “How about …?” “What if …?”

When people come together in this way they create safe environments for learning and reflection, promoting job satisfaction, commitment and personal growth, all with positive flow-on effects for the individual and organisation.

Naturally the relationships are ­influenced by chemistry and trust between parties but they also are nurtured by environments that allow them to form and grow. Culture, structure, systems of recognition and reward, measures of status and success, and attitudes can all play a part.

Organisations can encourage peer relationships by giving people time and space in their work life, coupled with chances to interact and get to know others — for example, through boundary-span­ning projects, informal get-togethers and the opportunity to bump into one another with the use of technologies and the physical work environment. What’s ­important is the social ­element: the physical or virtual proximity between people and their joint ­experience and interaction.

Peer relationships also happen across organisations and this should be encouraged. They allow people to broaden thinking, ideas and experiences, all of which flow back to their work.

Giving people the space to connect and build authentic relationships adds to the richness of work. Through these connections relation­ships form, knowledge is shared, ideas are hatched and people grow. This is where organisations thrive.

Carole Goldin is a leadership consultant and coach.