{"id":3999,"date":"2025-05-07T19:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T19:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3999"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:40:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:40:46","slug":"why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Let Coworkers Get to Know You"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Three elements of learning about each other can help coworkers to see each other as more trustworthy and authentic, according to Academy of Management Scholar Kris Byron<\/a> of Georgia State University:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sharing personal information
\n\u2022 Sharing information in ways that are seen as unintentional
\n\u2022 Sharing information vividly so others can experience personal details.<\/p>\n

Seeing a coworker in these ways increases an employee\u2019s investment in their relationship with that person, leading to bonds that enhance team cohesion and organizational culture.<\/p>\n

Byron studied how coworkers reveal personal information during video conferences. She and research colleagues Ashley Hardin<\/a> of Washington University in St. Louis, Beth Schinoff<\/a> of the University of Delaware, and Rachel Balven<\/a> of Arizona State University published an article on this topic in Academy of Management Journal<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur article doesn\u2019t just talk about what Zoom meeting participants can see behind each person, but our findings also extend to any other way in which we find out information about people that is vivid, which means you actually see it and experience it,\u201d Byron said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, if you saw me in the Target parking lot, and you see me driving a yellow Camaro, you\u2019d think, \u2018Oh, Kris drives a yellow Camaro,\u2019 but you\u2019re actually seeing it, which is different from me just telling you that I drive a yellow Camaro,\u201d she said. \u201cThat vividness is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byron and her coauthors also found that it is more impressive and memorable when people find out nonwork information about a colleague that was positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding out work-related information was fine, but it\u2019s finding out something personal about the person is also really important,\u201d Byron said. \u201cAs humans, we are uncertainty-reduction machines\u2014we want to understand things, and the way we can come to understand things is gathering information so that we understand people as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so that vividness of the nonwork information, and especially learning it unintentionally, so again, rather than me telling you I drive a yellow Camaro that you see me in the Target parking lot driving my yellow Camaro, you don\u2019t think, \u2018Oh, Kris was bragging or wanted me to see that,\u2019 but you just happen to see it,\u201d she said. \u201cThose three factors\u2014unintentional revelation, related to nonwork or personal life, and vividness\u2014were all really important, and those three things led to more positive results, meaning that it led people to be perceived more positively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen in turn, those three perceptions motivated people to form stronger relationships with that coworker.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher Three elements of learning about each other can help coworkers to see each other as more trustworthy and authentic, according to Academy of Management Scholar Kris Byron of Georgia State University: \u2022 Sharing personal information \u2022 Sharing information in ways that are seen as unintentional \u2022 Sharing information vividly so others can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,71,29,79],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavior","category-communicating","category-emotions","category-teams"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy You Should Let Coworkers Get to Know You - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Why You Should Let Coworkers Get to Know You\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-07T19:53:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:40:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":430,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/coworkers-talk-outside-office.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"BEHAVIOR\",\"COMMUNICATING\",\"EMOTIONS\",\"TEAMS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/why-you-should-let-coworkers-get-to-know-you\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why You Should Let Coworkers Get to Know You - 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