Professional but humane
One may ask, “How does the concept of friendship work out in organizations?” Interestingly, it is not surprising to meet friends and acquaintances at the work place, which is usually associated with seriousness to achieve productivity. One may wonder whether this may deepen their relationship, because there is a natural tendency to work well with familiar faces or maybe not. At the same time, the workplace screams of professionalism, rules, policies and etiquette but sometimes all this is relaxed at the team building, where one may end up in playful banter with the Supervisor. The matter is provocative to the mind, because it exercises it to strike a balance because few like to be addressed as colleagues while many prefer a friendly theme but with a professional demeanour. If you have lived enough, you will realise that life rarely strikes a balance. Besides, very few have mastered the art of balance. It is either you are rich or poor, right or wrong, small or big, living or existing and finally, friendly or professional in the workplace.
Friendship in the workplace can be likened to a good student and the teacher. For as long as the grades are exceptional, the relationship will always be admirable and positive. The teacher will always heap praise on the student. The student will be encouraged to study harder and to the follow the rules, as though to continue to receive praise and maintain the positive relationship with the teacher. Similarly, every worker strives to impress the Supervisor by working hard, meeting targets or better yet, exceeding them and generally being ethical and admirable. In reality, friendship between a teacher and student is limited to academic purposes but if the student is exceptional, the two may share a few jokes and hold conversation outside the usual academics but it is mostly respectful and professional. The same is true in the work place. Good performers have the privilege of getting to know their supervisors better but they skilfully remain professional. They would not want to squander their chances of promotion. It usually works in their favour.
Although friendships in a professional environment are promoted, there is sometimes a dark side of it. One that culminates into “work wife” or “work husband.” It may have started from a friendly place, maybe through usual interactions which tactfully exceeded boundaries, loosely set and slowly led to affairs. That is something unprofessional, especially when the culprits are married. It triggers toxicity in the work place, for those that watch professionally, knowing fully well that ethics and morals are not being followed both inside and outside the workplace as demanded by the organisation. The workplace becomes the centre of drama, full of distrust and what is affected most is productivity.
It becomes worse when multiple workers in a work place are involved in sexual relationships. It leads to an environment full of distrust, suspicion and chaos because instead of focussing on the actual work, focus is on personal affairs leading to the loss of teamwork, missed targets, gossip, poor communication and toxicity in general. Companies and individuals alike have lost their reputations because of this. If that is the case, friendship like fire must be guarded and controlled.
Surprisingly, sometimes friendships may have exceeded boundaries but rather than create chaos, they forged something worthy, even in the eyes of the church, which is marriage. Countless successful people, at global level credit their workplaces for bringing them together. They have gone on to build legacies together and contributed to their communities successfully.
Having a friendly conversation is evidence of good nature. Without thinking much, there is productivity when individuals talk freely and maybe sometimes engage in laughter. The environment must not always be stiffened with the unnecessary silence of individuals who may be trying to be professional at the expense of being light hearted and progressive at work. That would be a clear misunderstanding of professionalism.
Although the topic seems simple and easy, it is not. Given the complexity surrounding it, organizations must not take it for granted that they are hiring top graduates that are intelligent and automatically know how to handle themselves in the workplace. It would be surprising to find that they hold different views on workplace friendships and professionalism. Although friendships have traditionally improved the quality of lives, care must be taken in how workers interact in the workplace. Friendships may only be accepted if they are merged together with professionalism. They must be hand in glove; one must not exist without the other. They are to smoothen relations for the purpose of productivity only. Although for some it leads to marriage but the point is just to make things easier in the workplace and there is no need to ruin reputations.
