Here is why you really need to like the people you work with!

If it’s Tuesday, it must be another guest post

So, it is Tuesday. I am probably lunching in an out of the way bistro with my wife right now, watching the people stroll by, without a care in the world. I might also be going through the cold sweats as I begin to feel to initial onset of complete internet withdrawal. Where the hell is the nearest internet cafe????

No matter what I might be doing, I know you will getting a special treat from this post. When I asked people to write something for me, I gave them a very general loose theme: “Community”. So, Franny Oxford wrote a great piece on community which you can read in just a moment.

If you don’t know Franny, you should. She is a consummate HR pro, specializing in small business HR. She is funny, smart, and one of my personal favorites in the entire HR online community. She is also a great mommy, a great collaborator, and my friend. She is also a member of my dynamite HR street blogging team 2010″ for HR Florida this year!   Enjoy this piece from a very reluctant but awesome blogger. You can see her other writings at her blog, Do the Work.

Community at Work

As we begin to see a few glimmers of this recession ending, company leaders are in a panic about how to make sure that employees don’t walk at the first opportunity. Thanks to our economy, we know we can’t throw money at the problem. So we’re all trying to create a sticky culture where people feel like they’re a part of something amazing, a community of sorts at work.

Your office is not “The Office“!

Pay attention to your people!

If you’re reading this, chances are very good that you have more power than the people around you. Don’t be blind to the fact that the employees in your care will go along with lots of things you ask them to do just because you have more power than they do, and they need to curry favor with you. If you aren’t already part of a healthy work community where people can just be themselves, and to some degree enjoy themselves, at work, trying to fix it and creating a bunch of “community building opportunities” now is going to look like what it is: fear based, fake, and insincere. People may participate in your events but they’ll just annoy and alienate them.

So what works? Start with just this – Like the people you work with. Enjoy them. Show them you enjoy them. Individually. Make a point of getting to know individual coworkers and allow them to get to know you. The secret to participating in a small town, big family, or workplace happily and developing community is just to seek out commonalities, make an effort, share yourself, and demonstrate respect and enjoyment of the people around you every day.

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Tagged as: Business, Clark Griswold, Franny Oxford, HR Florida, Human Resources, humor, Michael Scott, Money, Office, Recreation