The key to any healthy system or relationship is balance. One of the ways organizations can strike the right balance with employees is to manage both the transactional and relational nature of the relationship.
One of the ways organizations can strike the right balance with employees is to manage both the transactional and relational nature of the relationship.
Work relationships have always been transactional. The employee provides knowledge and services in exchange for a pre-determined set of benefits from the organization. There’s explicit agreement and mutual benefit in this arrangement.
Work was confined to specific times and places. There was work-life and home-life and a reasonable assumption that the two would rarely meet. Now, expectations are different across the board. Employers expect commitment and availability from their employees, and employees expect partnership and connection at work.
A recent article from Harvard Business Review explains that there are three primary reasons employees choose to stay with an employer in their current role: a sense of belonging, caring and trusting relationships with colleagues, and feeling valued by their leader. On the other hand, when employees feel like their work relationships are primarily transactional, they are more likely to quit.
This is good news! Because creating better balance in work relationships is something that employees highly value and we also know how to do. To build stronger relationships, we can focus on the quality of employees' interactions with our business – and with each other.
Fostering these types of relationships in the workplace will lead to long-lasting and better outcomes for everyone involved.
Take some time this week to evaluate the balance in your organization. It’s constantly in flux in any environment, so don’t be surprised if you need to adjust. And if you’re not sure where to start, ask your employees. They can give you a good read on the current state, ideas about how to improve, and you’ll also earn some relational credits at the same time!
Check out the HBR article here.
