You spend at least 40 hours a week with the people you work with, that is a lot of time, maybe even more than you see your family or partner. Having positive work relationships can increase your mood in the workplace, productivity and decrease stress when you know you can rely on those around you to be a team.
That being said, it is time to make friends with your co-workers, and do so naturally and professionally. In the 21st century, the traditional corporate professionalism is dying out slightly, Millennials are making friends with their co-workers as office spaces are renovated to be open spaces and changing dress codes to be casual.
Even with this shift in corporate culture, do approach friendships with co-workers more delicately than meeting someone in a sports event or bar. Show interest in your co-worker's life outside of work and always be a good teammate, to start.
Learn People's Name & Greet Them
If you are new to a team or office space, start by getting to know everyone's name and using the names. It will make people feel good to know you remember them. When entering and leaving the workplace, at least say hi and goodbye to create a polite moral.
Don't be that person who comes to work without even trying to be social, acknowledge others and sk them how they are doing. Having some small talk in the morning will help you both to wake up and prepare for the day.
Learning people's names and greeting them is step one, but it is also the baseline. Once you have developed a good rapport or recognized someone to be a person that you vibe with, ask them to have a coffee or have a lunch hour.
Start With Coffee Or Lunch
Hopefully, your office space has a common area for coffee and lunch breaks, making it easier to socialize with your coworkers by presenting more opportunities for conversations that don't disrupt their workflow.
After having a few coffees at work, you can ask to go get a coffee outside of work or even mix it up with going out to lunch instead of bringing leftovers.
Anything that resides between working hours could be an opportunity to invite a co-worker. If you like to go on walks during your lunch break, see if others want to join you. Or propose a walking meeting to make the day less boring and more personal.
Finding ways to make the workday more fun, such as bringing in snacks or donuts can show that you are wanting to create a good work environment with those around you. Be yourself, be professional but also don't be afraid to be vulnerable if you want to make some lasting friendships.
Propose An Outside Of Work Event
Once you have built a strong rapport with a co-worker or a group of co-workers, make the jump to propose hanging out outside of work. Happy hour is a classic because you can go straight from work, have a drink and anyone can head out when they need to.
Another fun idea could be to propose signing up for and training for a running race. That way you can go for runs altogether, and work towards a personal goal as a team that is outside of your work duties. Many companies even sponsor their employees to do so.
Once you have reached this step with your co-workers, don't be afraid to ask them questions about their personal lives. Find shared interests or hobbies, ask about their weekends and families. When you enjoy talking to the people you work with, it makes working a lot more enjoyable.
Be Positive & Patient
If you can hold your head high, be positive and patient, the effort you are putting into getting to know others will shine through.
Remember that everyone has their own lives, which can make it hard to make plans outside of work. On the same topic, what happens outside of work affects people when they enter the workplace, they might not always be in the mood to be social. Give it time, remember that at the end of the day you are at the office to get work done and move forward in your career and anything else is a plus.
Friendships don't happen overnight, so you might not find your work bestie so quickly either. Especially in a work environment, where you need to rely on others to get their work done, and vice versa. Be wary of how friendships can affect workflow, and always choose professionalism first.
At the end of the day, be yourself, be positive and give people slack and time to open up to a friendship.
