There’s an old saying in business and it goes like this…”You don’t have to like someone to work with them.” I agree, there are many people that we work with who we don’t necessarily like, and we sure wouldn’t want to hang out with them on a personal basis.
But, when we do work with these people, we usually get the job done; sometimes really well. So why is that? Some people would say ‘because I have to or I’ll lose my job if I don’t.’ Now, that could be the reason, in a few cases. But I think there’s a much more powerful reason we work well with other people; it’s called “respect.”
The truth is, we work well with people we don’t like because we have respect for their skills, their experience, and the way they treat us and other people. Now, I’m not saying that we don’t ever like the people we work with, many of us do actually like each other at work, and many of us do socialize, and even get into personal relationships, with our colleagues. And yes, it can be harder – much harder – to work with someone you don’t like. But, all my research and the data tells me that respect is the fundamental reason people work well together: respect for their skills, experience or the way they treat us and others.
So, I’m modifying that old saying, to go like this… “You don’t have to like people to work with them, but you do have to have some level of respect for them.”
