Tip: Connecting with colleagues outside of work, tricky?

Posted by Hailey Heimbach on Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Tip: Connecting with colleagues outside of work, tricky?

“Studies show that connecting outside of work can help leaders and employees thrive in their work and improve team performance.” So how to do this, without the risks: “In the wrong setting, these encounters can lead to uncomfortable interactions that tarnish work relationships or potentially jeopardize a professional image that’s taken years to build.”

Harvard Business Review’s multi-year study of leaders, Blurring Boundaries in Coworker Relationships: How a Nonwork Setting Becomes a Relational Holding Environment, share the best ways to build these relationships in unique settings that aren’t work related.

Specifically, these non-work settings are:

1. Flexible: The setting can be used in many ways to meet people’s needs, such as an all-levels yoga class near the office or an online platform that can be used when and where it’s convenient.

2. Legitimate: The setting is seen as socially acceptable by others in the workplace, such as a book club or running club.

3. Virtuous: The setting is viewed as inherently good or moral, such as a gym, library, or nonprofit organization.

4. Playful: The setting sparks a sense of fun and playfulness, like a festival in a park or an improv class.

Sometime this connecting can be done remotely, and is very effective. This HBR article offers a great example with Peloton.

SHEPA LEARNING COMPANY WEEKLY POSITIVE NETWORKING® TIP​
​No. 1125, July 30, 2025​
​By Gayle Hallgren and Judy Thomson

Categories: General

Tagged: General, Information, Tips and Tricks