You spend a lot of time at work. Life is short so why don’t you make the best of your time.  Being able to enjoy your connections with those you work with makes a world of difference. Here are some of the benefits of good relationships at work.

The Enneagram an Excellent Tool

The Enneagram personality system helps you to get along better with your colleagues. It helps you to get to know yourself and understand others better.

When you come into the world, you naturally are given one of nine different ways to survive in the world. Both your genetic background and early life experiences influence the personality type you receive.

When you know what type you are, you begin to understand why you act the way you do. It also gives you clues as to what makes others tick. All this makes it possible for healthier relationships with your self and others. For more information on the Enneagram, please see last weeks blog.

Good Relationships Make a Difference

There are many reasons to have good relationships at work:

            Feelings of Well-Being:

1.     Building relationships with your colleagues enhance your feelings of well-being. You feel supported not only in your paid work but in your general welfare as a human being.  You no longer have to divide your self between your personal and work life. You can be yourself in both places.

The Enneagram personality system helps you to become more present allowing you to be fully open at the moment. When you are open,  you are better able to create healthier boundaries. Healthy boundaries enable you to be fully present to another person without having to give up your own needs.

Communication Makes the World Go Around:

2.     Excellent communication makes your business more productive. Your ability to communicate with others increases as you build healthy relationships with those at work. The best way to talk with a colleague is by being fully open to their body language, emotions and what they have to say.

Communication is enhanced through working with the Enneagram. When you can see how different you see the world as compared to others, it opens the door to better understanding.

As you get healthier in all nine types, you have an excellent communication toolbox to get your message across in the most helpful way.

So much can get in the way of your people understanding you. The Enneagram shows you the places you tend to get stuck.

You begin to see your blind spots such as overcompensating for your lack of worth by focussing more on the needs of others and/or overly criticizing others for not completing tasks in the exact way you wanted.

A company that uses the Enneagram with staff and management helps your organization to get along with each other.  Learning the nine fundamental ways to function in the world helps to create self-awareness. This is the first step to excellent communication.

The Power of Collegiality:

3.     Collegiality is fundamental for a company to be productive, not only for staff getting along with each other but in relationships with your customers and clients.

For collegial relationships to be active and healthy, you need to move beyond your personality. The Enneagram points out where you get stuck in your habits. The Enneagram provides you a map to get out of your box.

When you are open to your three energy centers, through,  personal development, space opens up in your relationships. Creating space allows for bridges to be built across diverse views.  You make this happen by sharing skills, being open about your abilities, and expressing your creativity.

Collegiality at its best is like a dance where everybody knows how to move with each other bringing out your best.

Unmask Your Creativity:

4.     Creativity is a misunderstood word. How creative do you believe you are? You and everyone else has an artistic side. Did someone in your life try to silence your artistic side?

The Enneagram points to the creativity in you and everyone else. You are naturally creative when you are open to experiencing the world through our bodies, emotions and quiet mind.

When you have a group of people feeling good and enjoying the comradery of your colleagues, you will have a natural desire and ability to be creative.

You will no longer view the world as dualistic. Problems that seemed insurmountable, you will find a new way to move ahead. You and your colleagues will be free to try new ideas and retry old ideas that in another time didn’t work or given a chance.

You and your company are going to move ahead with greater confidence and ease.

Investing in Mental Health:

5.     Your physical, mental and spiritual health are vital to you and your organization.  More and more companies are encouraging their employees like you to stay active and fit through providing access to gyms, yoga classes and other forms of group exercise.

Your spiritual well-being is congruent with the worth you connect with the work you do. Doing work that goes against your values will destroy you. You want people in your places of work that believe what you are doing is essential and adds value to the world.

The Enneagram is a great tool to help you find balance in your life. It helps you to see what is missing in your life and what you overindulge. It not only helps you to name what is not, in balance but gives you clues to find balance again.

The Power of Conflict:

6.     Do you like conflict? You are probably like many who do not enjoy conflict unless you are one of the few people who thrive on it.

Conflict is prevalent in your life. You have conflict soon as you have a group of people with different points of view. In your diverse world, it is reasonable and healthy to have a difference of opinion.

As the Enneagram welcomes you into a non-dualistic word, many more solutions open up, especially when there are more two ways to resolve a conflict.

The Enneagram helps you to look at each situation with fresh eyes to see what is the best solution for the time.

Resolving conflict becomes a win-win solution which is good news for everyone!

Efficiency Comes from Healthy Relationships:

7.     All businesses want to have efficient works. You are going to be the most efficient when you enjoy the benefit of good relationships at work.

If you have a bully for a boss, you might be efficient for a short time because of fearing your boss. But this will not last because unhappy, stressed out workers become less and less productive.

Bullied employees will get sick more often. Bullied employees will take more days off work because of stress and illness.  Bullied employees take no pride or responsibility in the operation of the business.  You will continually look for new employees as staff continues to leave for better work environments.

The Enneagram can help you, and your colleagues find ways to honor, support and respect each other. It will help you bring out the best in yourself and the rest of the staff and management.

The benefits of good relationships at work are many. A happy, meaningful and respectful work environment encourages healthy relationships between you and your colleagues.

When you are getting your needs met, you are going to be more relaxed, committed, creative and hard working.

If you see the value of the work you put into your job, you will treat your post as much more than a task to make money. If you are passionate about what you do you are going to work with high energy and dedication.

With the experience of knowing that conflict is positive, you will experience diverse opinions as a strength more than a curse.

You will find freedom in fully expressing your opinions, thoughts, theories, and ideas to your organization knowing they will be heard.  There is no longer need to pick only one winner. The team becomes more important than the individual.

Most of all, you will enjoy being with the people who work with you. Going to work will no longer be drudgery, but something you look forward to each day. Going to work becomes fun and empowering.

Roland Legge offers Life Coaching through REL Consultants for individuals, and Executives to help them to be the best they can be. For more information, please arrange for a free 30-minute discovery call by phoning Roland at 1 306 620-7478 or book your appointment online Please click on “Discovery Call.”