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I enjoy working with my coworkers.
Survey Domain: Employee
Survey Theme: Coworker Relations
Understanding the Issue: The first step is to understand the issues behind the survey performance scores. Unless you are absolutely sure that you understand the issues related to a particular survey item, the best place to start is identifying them, and the section Understanding Issues can help you do so. The activities described in Understanding Issues can be used for any of the survey items.
Employees like to have a positive reaction to the people they work with. Other than family members, coworkers represent a majority of social interaction during any given working day. Employees may or may not maintain close social relationships with coworkers but tend to form bonds which significantly affect their satisfaction with their work and workplace. When this item is unfavorable, it may be an indicator of many issues that need to be addressed among your employees to improve their working relationships.
Improvement ideas:
Encourage your employees to discuss how the group’s working relationships can be improved and tensions eased. Beginning explorations of low scores on this item are best done using the One-on-One Exploration Activity (exercise) in Understanding Issues because the sensitivity of the topic may make it too difficult for employees to open up in a group meeting. If employees are not responsive in your individual sessions with them, suggest some common issues that can lead to unfavorable working relations. Possibilities could include something uncomfortable about an individual group member, lack of opportunity to do anything but onerous work tasks with coworkers, or negative interactions between two or more workers. Strive to find the root cause of the problem, since this will heavily influence what interventions can work.
Improve communications in your work unit. Poor communications are often the cause of conflict and disruption. Check with your manager or HR representative to see what communication skills courses are available for your work group.
Use an outside facilitator to provide a team-building experience that emphasizes communication and group problem-solving activities. If the reaction is positive, you may incorporate pieces of this into your regular staff meetings. For example, beginning each meeting with a fun activity that allows people to get to know each other better can have a positive effect.
Pair people in new ways for training and projects. Use what you learned in the Understanding Issues activity to allow people who have not gotten to know each other yet a chance to work on something together.
Do not underestimate the influence you have over your work group as its leader. Do you enjoy working with them? Could there be resentment over perceived unfair treatment you give to a particular employee or employees? If this possibility exists, involve an outside facilitator in helping you take a look at those questions.
Be alert to underlying causes for tensions between team members. Issues of harassment, unethical or illegal behavior, or romantic entanglements can disrupt coworker harmony. When in doubt about how to proceed, consult with your HR department
(MI 38)