Working Relationships
The Simple Truth about Getting Along with Friends and Foes at Work
Do you love your job, but find relationships with your boss or fellow workers difficult? Wall, a clinical psychologist with twenty years of experience as a consultant to multinational corporations, nonprofit organizations and government agencies, says that many good workers quit or are fired from jobs they love not because of poor performance, but because interpersonal problems with co-workers or superiors have made teamwork difficult or impossible.
Wall gives clear and insightful analysis and advice on topics such as: determining how to handle personal versus professional work relationships, breaking down the wall of silence that prevents conversations that are “dying to happen,” identifying the “real” problem in dysfunctional work relationships, providing tools for raising and dealing with difficult issues, managing the emotions of conflict, building communication and trust and job satisfaction
In Working Relationships, Wall engages the reader in a conversation about work that is at once probing and pleasant. Designed to be “a workshop in written form,” the book provides the information necessary to broaden understanding of the nature of successful workplace relationships, concepts that are not usually taught in business schools nor easily learned on the job. Thirty exercises allow readers to explore their personal attitudes and beliefs, case studies enliven the text and clear directions are given as to how to practice the newly acquired skills that repair poor workplace relationships and make good ones even better.
According to Wall, one can have wide-open professional relationships and argue passionately about differing points of view at work without taking things personally and can build warm personal relationships for connection, mutual support and friendship.
Whether one is at the bottom, middle or top of the workplace hierarchy, anyone who works for a living will find the information in Working Relationships to be of vital importance.
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
