The tendency to mix business with pleasure in small-to-medium enterprises is affecting bosses’ ability to manage their staff effectively, according to a study.
A survey undertaken among 60 managers and personnel working in small-to-medium businesses by coaching services provider Kuhnke Communications revealed that a huge 77% of respondents spent time with their colleagues outside of work, with 37% doing so on a regular basis. A quarter said they were friends with their colleagues, while 15% indicated that managers were likewise friends with their staff.
But three out of five also admitted that they sometimes found it difficult not to mix friendship and business relationships at work, while more than half of managers felt that their personal relationship with employees meant that they were unable to give impartial feedback on their performance. Three out of ten experienced this problem on a regular basis.
Elizabeth Kuhncke, founder of Kuhnke Communications, said: “It’s difficult to resist the temptation of becoming friends if you like somebody as a person. However, it’s important to remember that friendship at work always causes misunderstandings and irritation when your personal relationships contradict business interests.”
As a result it was important to be friendly without getting personally involved in colleagues’ lives and to give feedback on employees’ work regularly but not just when they made mistakes, she added.
“This will make you feel more confident when it comes to giving somebody constructive criticism. Never involve your colleagues’ personal abilities in the discussion. It’s easier to give and receive critical feedback when you know it’s about the job and not about the person,” Kuhncke said.
Interestingly, however, personnel agreed. A massive nine out of 10 believed that the most appropriate behaviour for managers was to stay business-focused, while retaining the ability to understand employees’ personal issues when necessary.
Some 86% also believed that keeping the environment business-focused was the most beneficial situation for everyone.
One Response
Friendship is a good thing
I seldom comment on posts but this is so one sided I felt driven to give the alternative view. Socialising with the team and building a relationship is almost always a good thing. If your friends outside of work it should make the working relationship easier not harder. People who like you are much more likely to want to work for you and put in that extra effort when needed. Switching between social and work ‘modes’ is not difficult and is often driven by the setting (e.g. your in the office or your in the pub guess which mode you should be in). If your not able to give constructive (ok, lets say negative) feedback to someone because you consider them your friend then you are not cut out to be a manager and maybe should look to some other role. Being a friend is all about being honest and being able to say things that you wouldn’t accept from other people. I still consider some of my best friends to be people I’ve worked for or have worked for me and my life would have been a lot emptier if I’d followed the suggestion to have kept these people at a distance.