Creating a Culture of Support: 3 Ways to Show You Support a Coworker
To create an inspiring workplace culture you need to create a culture of support: An environment that encourages everyone on a team to support each other. Supporting colleagues builds trust and improves collaboration at work. Offering support breaks down silos and encourages more open communication. And offering support of course helps create reduce stress at work and promote a healthier, more positive workplace environment.
3 Ways to Offer Your Support to a Coworker
When you’re undergoing a lot of stress, a lot of change in your organization, it becomes even more important to check in with one another, to check in with your colleagues.
A Deloitte study found the number one way that employees said they feel a sense of belonging on their team and in their company is when someone checks in with them.
But even when you aren’t undergoing a lot of changes or stress, we should still be checking in with one another for just that reason too, because it builds collaboration. It breaks down silos. It builds trust at work. There’s so many reasons to support each other and check in with one another when it comes to building a rocking great workplace culture.
So here are three dirt simple, but really effective ways to offer your support to your colleagues.
1. Just offer it! Remember to ask the question: “Is there anything I can do to support you?”
But, here’s the key: You can’t make it sound like it’s just one of those throwaway lines, that you’re just being polite, or it’s a nicety. You’ve got to be sincere. You have to be authentic. You have to really mean it. And you have to practice it on a regular basis.
“Is there anything I can do to support you?” Then stop talking! Just let the question sit so they have time to ruminate and think about it. And if you can’t do it face-to-face, then consider the next best thing.
Send an email to somebody saying, “Hey, I was just thinking about you!” Imagine how good that feel, if you’re a colleague, or a client for that matter, when you get an email from somebody saying, “Hey, Bob, I was just thinking about you, I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay with all this stuff going on? Is there anything I can do to support you?”
Or, just picking up the phone? And if they’re not in, leave a message, because again, how cool is that to get a message on your voicemail from somebody saying, “I was just thinking about you, and I just want to make sure you’re doing okay and see if there’s anything at all that I can do to support you.”
2. This works well, not just in a one-on-one situation, but also in a team setting where you do this as a team. It’s simply asking these two questions. Number one, “Is there anything I should start doing that would make this whole situation easier for you?” And then the second question, “Is there anything I should stop doing that would make this situation easier for you?”
3. Offer options whenever you can.
It isn’t always an option, but when you can think of specific options, always offer two or three options to your colleagues, or again, to your clients, of HOW you can offer support to them. Offering options makes it that much more tangible and relevant.
When you offer them specific options they really see that you’re sincere and that you want to partner with them to help them.
But also it’s important because sometimes they just don’t know – they simply don’t know what you could do for them! They haven’t thought of the different options that you can even offer them. It never occurred to them. So they don’t even know what to ask.
So, go more than halfway by giving them a few options. And so we can all learn from one another, let us know in the comments below what has worked for you, how do you support to your colleagues or your clients?
Michael Kerr, March 2021. Michael Kerr is a Hall of Fame speaker who travels the world researching, writing, and speaking about inspiring workplace cultures. His latest book is called The Jerk-Free Workplace: How You Can Take the Lead to Create a Happier, More Inspiring Workplace.
