Love Mondays 134: Why Friendship Matters at Work
Monday Musing:
What if success and happiness at work are intricately tied to the connections we forge with our colleagues?
Happiness Alert! International Day of Happinesshits this Wednesday, March 20—time to boost those joy levels!
But what makes us truly happy and how do we find it?
Turns out – *non-spoiler alert* – it’s not wealth or fame. The key to true happiness, as revealed in the longest-ever study on happiness (aka the Harvard Study of Adult Development, initiated in 1938), lies in our relationships and social connections—with family, friends, and community.
Why? Because when life throws curveballs or hands us victories, having a support network enhances our ability to weather the storms and savour the triumphs.
In fact one of my favourite quotes is “Friendship doubles joy and cuts grief in half” – Francis Bacon.
Having experienced profound grief for the first time with the loss of my beloved Grandma last year, I must say this quote has taken on a whole new meaning. Happiness and solace truly are found in knowing that we’re not navigating the complexities of this world alone.
This applies to the workplace too. Friendships at work matter, especially considering the substantial time we invest in our jobs and the current landscape of hybrid/remote work.
According to Gallup research, having a close work buddy substantially elevates our engagement, well-being, and overall success, whether you’re working in the office or the virtual realm.
One of the limitations I’ve found in current working life, stemming from a combination of both busyness and the increasingly digital nature, is that we often miss what I call “the stitching” — the stuff that knits together the moments of our day and allows us to feel a sense of bondedness and belonging.
We tend to jump straight into the agenda or the action items and miss the banter about how our football team went on the weekend or that new recipe you tried last night that managed to sneak five vegetables into your kids.
And if we can’t make time and space for the light stuff, then we’re definitely not able to hold space for the critical stuff, like asking someone ‘How are you?’ with an intent to hear a reply beyond our collective, robotic ‘Good’.
Imagine what finding even 5 minutes of connection in every conversation around the ‘how we are’ and ‘what’s going on’ could do for our ‘why’ (aka engagement, motivation).
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P.P.S Check out a deeper dive into the topic in today’s Love Mondays More!
