I made a video about making work friends, since I am very good at doing that.
Here are my tips that I go over in detail in the video:
- Make as much small talk as you can to suss out your coworkers. Small talk can be awkward but think about it as being the least risky
- Invite your coworkers out on walks to get coffee or lunch with you – less pressure than having an entire lunch with you, or being turned down because they don’t want coffee
- Remember what your coworker told you the next day, or over the weekend – people are flattered that you remembered their weekend or evening plans, and will normally reciprocate. This will keep conversation going and feel more friendly.
- Share random, not that funny anecdotes that happen to you. The more mundane the better – not everything has to be an epic story. Anything that has a hint of annoyance or unusualness is good.
- Add them on a low risk social media – I don’t mind adding people on Facebook as I don’t post much on my profile. I would probably not follow my coworkers until I 100% trusted them on Instagram.
- SEND MEMES. Everyone loves a good meme.
- Try work out the office politics – who is tight with management, who keeps to themselves
- Never be scared or intimidated by people at work, especially when you’re trying to be friendly – everyone is looking for a nice spot in their work day and doesn’t like feeling like they have no friends at work!
I forgot to mention in the video for Number 7 – GO WITH YOUR GUT. If you have a bad or apprehensive feeling about someone, even if they have been nothing but nice to you, make sure you constantly remind yourself not to share too much with them. Normally a gut feel means that your subconscious has recognised something as dodgy, but you just haven’t been able to identify what. It’s hard to prove that someone is trying to manipulate you, lying, or not being genuine through small talk but your intuition will suspect things before anything is pulled.
You’ve got this!!
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