For many working women, their relationships with female colleagues are critical to their workplace satisfaction, emotional well-being, and career advancement. Yet too many women miss out on relationships because they don’t know how to navigate relationships with women with different social identities, such as race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation at work. This is particularly true when it comes to race, as we heard from women again and again while researching workplace relationships and in our many years of coaching.
Are Your Work Friendships Only with People Who Look Like You?
Expand your circle and everyone will benefit.
September 09, 2019
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Summary.
Building cross-cultural friendships doesn’t have to be hard. In our research and professional coaching we’ve seen four strategies that people use to avoid minefields and build lasting friendships. They avoid being defensive or provoking defensiveness, they seek to understand their colleague, they don’t start a conversation until they are ready for it, and they avoid some common conversation killers like “No offense, but…”