{"id":3955,"date":"2025-04-23T18:51:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T18:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3955"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:37:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:37:46","slug":"dont-always-stick-to-business-in-conversations-with-colleagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/dont-always-stick-to-business-in-conversations-with-colleagues\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Always Stick to Business in Conversations with Colleagues"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Leaders and managers can improve retention, employee morale, team building, and organizational cohesion by cultivating conversations among employees about their personal lives.<\/p>\r\n

Academy of Management Scholar Carol Kulik<\/a> of the University of South Australia said that one of the things that\u2019s changed in organizations as a result of the increasing prevalence of remote work is fewer face-to-face chats.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cBy spending less time in offices, we\u2019ve lost a lot of the serendipity that contributes to colleagues building bonds with one another,\u201d Kulik said. \u201cSometimes there\u2019s some value in those chance water-cooler conversations or exchanges in the cafeteria when people bump into each other and shoot the breeze.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe often encourage people who do work in remote environments to take an extra five minutes at the beginning of a meeting before you go to the agenda to find out what\u2019s new, what\u2019s on people\u2019s minds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n

Kulik cites the example of a manager who starts meetings by asking employees to choose which emoticon or emoji describes how they are feeling right at that moment. It can be an effective icebreaker that leads to team bonding.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s silly, and it\u2019s not for everyone, but it does surface team members\u2019 moods, such as \u2018I’m really frustrated right now,\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m feeling the pressure of this deadline,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThat just helps you to get behind the agenda and talk more personally.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

One of the current trends that Kulik\u2019s research about organizations has uncovered is that work environments have become a lot less \u201csticky.\u201d That can complicate organizations\u2019 retention efforts.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe always say that what helps employees to stay in the organization is a web of relationships,\u201d Kulik said. \u201cBut now we know employees are telling us that they\u2019re less likely to have friendships at work, because it\u2019s hard to develop friendships through Zoom.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThey may not feel as tightly connected to their manager, so it\u2019s really important for managers to proactively help employees develop that network of collegial professional relationships,\u201d she said. \u201cIn onboarding, that\u2019s one of the biggest responsibilities of a manager: not just to tell the employee what they need to know to do their job, but also who they need to know.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWho do new hires need to reach out to and develop a relationship with?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A sample of Kulik\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n