Several years ago, I was taught a lesson that has stuck with me and changed the way I interact with my co-workers.<\/p>\n
Generally speaking, the advice goes something like this:<\/p>\n
“Genuinely seek interest in what others find interesting. Ask them a question that allows them to share what they are passionate about.” The most recent example I have is from just a few days ago. I was refilling my coffee cup with a little more “liquid attention span” when a colleague approached. We exchanged pleasantries and before the awkward silence could settle in I asked what was new in his project. I’m not a recluse, I have a general idea of what is happening in each of the project groups, but I wanted to know what he found most interesting by letting him tell me what was going on.<\/p>\n The unobservant passerby may have missed the change in my colleague’s demeanor, but there was a noticeable positive shift in his tone. He turned to make eye contact and shared his excitement about a new feature he was working on. I learned – not only what work he was looking forward to – but also a few things about the project that had changed since I last got an update.<\/p>\n A simple and informal question, like this one, often proves very beneficial. As a peer, I’m building a stronger relationship with my coworkers and learning the strengths and passions of those around me; as a leader, the answer can help shed light on the health of a project at a non-technical level. You may have a capable team, but if the members are not passionate about the work, you’re likely to have more bugs and a less creative solution.\u00a0The final quality of your product is greatly influenced by the outlook of each team member and a short conversation is an inexpensive way to gauge the current status.<\/p>\n Admittedly, I’m not an expert – after all, I am still a socially awkward engineer. However, every conversation is an opportunity to improve working relationships, solve a problem, or even make a new friend to have a pint with. At the very least, each conversation can be a building block to the next.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Several years ago, I was taught a lesson that has stuck with me and changed the way I interact with my co-workers. Generally speaking, the advice goes something like this: “Genuinely seek interest in what others find interesting. Ask them a question that allows them to share what they are passionate about.” The most recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa0DRC-14","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90,"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/confessionsofaprogrammer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em><\/p>\n