Pink Watercooler

Ok, so you’ve had a little time for your promotion to settle in and your brain is starting to see a little more through the haze. Now you’re working within a new peer group and you start wondering how you should handle those friendships you nurtured before your promotion.

The Nature Of The Work Relationship

Just like in our lives outside of work, our relationships at work take many forms. There are people we know just in passing, those you say a familiar “hello” to as you pass in the hall. With some people there’s just a professional relationship where your conversations are mainly about work with maybe some discussions as to how the weekend was or how the kids are doing.

Then there are the relationships that transcend the workplace and have grown to be much more than a work relationship. These people you spend time with outside of work, you know of their personal life as they know of yours.

So what to do with these relationships?

Should You Stay Or Should You Go?

Just because you’ve reached a new level in your career doesn’t mean you have to start over with the relationships you’ve grown over the years. It takes time and a lot of hard work to get to know people on a personal and/or professional level and these are connections you’ll want to continue as you grow your career.

For those that you know just in passing or as a strictly professional relationship you may want to spend some time with these people to further build the professional relationship. You never know when these relationships may be mutually beneficial for a project you’re working on. Plus it never hurts to expand your network.

Now, for the relationships that are more personal than professional you’ve got some decisions to make. If you’ve built this relationship around dishing out the latest office gossip, then you definitely need to stop this practice. In your new role you must be seen as professional and trustworthy to others and gossiping will not do this for you.

If you have friendships at work where you spend time together outside of work, you should evaluate how others will view this relationship. The last thing you need right now in your new role is for others to feel insecure because you may play favorites with your friends. The best thing that you can do is to ensure complete separation between work and play.

Keep building those relationships at work and it will definitely work as you build your career. How have you dealt with work friendships when either you or your friend were promoted?