For the first episode of Full Production, I was lucky enough to share my story on the wildly successful Bond Appetit podcast, hosted by Ronsley Vaz. For me, this was a brilliant segue into my show – a place for navigating through the issues, wins, and advances being made in the mining industry. Ronsley is a good mate of mine and we talked about many things, but one of the areas that kept coming up over and over was relationships.
Relationships are one of the most fundamental drivers of career satisfaction or dissatisfaction. They’re what separate the good from the great, and relationships hold the key to levelling up in just about any profession, not to mention mining. So, why do relationships matter so much?
Well anyone who’s spent a 12-hour shift elbow-to-elbow with someone they can’t stand or don’t trust knows the answer. Many full-time employees spend more of their waking hours with co-workers than they do with their spouses and families. Factor in fly in-out scenarios and other logistical challenges presented by the mining industry and in-work relationships take on even more significance.
I strive to work with people who I’d like texting with or who I’d want to go for a beer with. There are many benefits that can be reaped by anyone who wants to foster good relationships in the workplace. Below, I’ve outlined a few for you.
Improved teamwork
When people know one another well, they’re much more likely to work well together. Let’s use sports as an analogy. Watch any team where the members don’t get along – they probably look disjointed or otherwise out of sync. When people have well-established relationships with each other at work, the productivity and enjoyment of all involved goes up. This is also generally true of safety records as well.
Higher morale
Closely related to the point made above, higher morale is perhaps the biggest positive side effect of good relationships in the workplace. Co-workers who become friends and look forward to spending time with one another while they do their jobs create a ripple effect of positivity. Ideally, you find yourself a job where you like the people so much you can’t wait to see them after every weekend. Conversely, a stiff and unfriendly work environment will have the opposite effect.
Less turnover
People like to skip around between jobs, always searching for the best option in mining. But developing relationships makes this seem like a less attractive thing to do, not because people shouldn’t strive for the best but that money is not the only metric that matters. Good relationships really work in the favour of employers too, as high turnover is costly to any business.
Higher rates of productivity
A happy and well-adjusted workforce is a productive one. From a hiring manager’s perspective, relationships matter tremendously, but sometimes you wouldn’t know it based on the state of things in the mining industry.
At the end of the day, most people want the same thing – a good job, a roof over their heads and, if possible, to work with people they like. Relationships matter, don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.
Listen to my entire conversation with Ronsley here.
