Why are these workplace relationships so hard? – GUS Ep. 4

Michelle tells me about a workplace relationship that didn’t go very well. Turns out someone was stabbing her in the back, but being nice to her face. I talk this out with her and then we get into just a few of the ways workplace relationships are different, and how to handle them. I introduce the two kinds of work orientations that researchers have known about for decades: a task-orientation versus a relationship orientation. We talk about the implications of this. And then I talk about how our theories about our co-workers are often very wrong. And how we can help ourselves get along better at work.