I have been employed at the same place for a whole decade, a
fact that still baffles me and quite frankly makes me feel way older than my 26
years of age. Within the last 10 years I
have had the opportunity to do a little bit of everything. Let’s just call me “the jack of all
trades.” Not only have I gained more
hands on experience and expanded my knowledge of expertise but the diversity
and variety of jobs I have been assigned to do has also given me the opportunity
to be exposed to a vast array of different people. It is no surprise that under these conditions
I have been able to build relationships with some of my co-workers which go
deeper than just your everyday acquaintances.
“Our most meaningful and intimate workplace relationships
are those with our professional peers…our peer relationships are not simply
professional; they’re often intensely personal.” (McCornack, 2010. p 413. ) This is something that holds very
true for me. Over the past 10 years I
have seen a lot of my fellow co-workers come and go, bonds have been made and
broken, and then there are some that no matter how hard you try you just cannot
seem to get along with. It’s the corporate
melting pot; however, there has been one friendship that has stood the test of
time. Cindy Knott is the Credit Manager
for Sysco and recently became my new boss.
I guess you can say the power-status spectrum may be off kilter but it
has not affected our relationship one bit.
We have what Mcornamck defines as being a professional peer relationship
where over the years we have transitioned from being just informational peers
(ones that just share work related content) to collegial peers (ones that share
work related and personal issues) to what the text describes as being special
peers. This is a unique relationship in that special peers share pretty much
everything with each other that range from work, family and even emotional
support (McCornack, 2010. p414.) The
text states that “evolution of a coworker friendship to a higher state of
intimacy is usually spurred by negative events…or serious work-related problems
that require an exceptional level of social support.” (McCornack, 2010. p414)
Putting a little humor into this I am reminded of a Maxine cartoon I seen one
time that says something like “of course were friends…you already know too
much.” How true this is seeing as we
both self disclose facts to one another that even our own mothers don’t
know Openness is definitely a key
characteristic in our friendship and like Mcnomrak says it is a key factor in
helping provide one another with security and emotional support. The reason our friendship works so well and
has progressed through the stages of peer relationships is heavily reliant on
how open we are. Over the years it has
created that security and confidence that I can tell her anything at all and I
know the information I share with her will not be thrown into the rumor mill. We both shower each other with assurances or
bad day “pick me up’s” and encouragement when needed and most importantly we
treat each other with respect and not just has co-workers: 2 traits that
Mcornomakc states are essential to helping maintain work place relationships
(McCornack, 2010. p414-415. I can’t
recall a single moment when she has not offered up the chance for me to vent my
frustrations. I always try to reciprocate when possible. To be completely honest our friendship
dynamic works because we are so much a like.
She is a mirror image of me 20 years from now and I wouldn’t change a
thing about our friendship.
After 10 years I may be considered the “jack of all trades,”
but I have gained more than just a hands on work experience; I have gained a
true life long friendship that is worth so much more. Have you had any of your friendships begin in
the workplace and if so were they just co-workers or did they hold a different
title than you? Explain how it changed your outlook or perspective about the
workplace environment?
Reference:
- McCornack, S. (2010). Reflect & Relate. An Introduction to Interpersonal Communication, 404-419.
