How to Make Friends at Work by Jay Holstine

Jay Holstine
3 min readMay 16, 2023

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Developing healthy relationships at work is one of the most important things to help you maintain a sound working environment. You spend a considerable amount of your day at work. So you must have good people around who can motivate you to do better and can make every day at work more pleasant for you. In this guide, Jay Holstine takes you through a few tips to help you make genuine friends at work.

Tips to Make Friends at Work by Jay Holstine

Here are a few tips to help you make friends at work.

Introduce Yourself

The first key step to making friends at work is to introduce yourself. People have to get to know who you are first so that they can befriend you. This sets the tone for quality relationships at work. To form relationships with them, try to get them to know you personally.

Engage in Small Talk

You don’t always have to talk about work-related things with coworkers. You can start with small talk to get to know them better and to form strong alliances at work. Jay Holstine says you can even discuss personal interests with them to connect with them on another level altogether.

Give Compliments

If someone does something you think is good, compliment them. Giving compliments can help you make the other person feel better, which is very important to help form strong relationships. Tell them that they look nice, or tell them that you like the way they work. Compliments like these can go a long way.

Spend Your Breaks with Them

Whenever you take a break at work, try to spend up that time interacting with others. When you do that, you can connect with them better. Remember that if you spend more time with them, you get to know them better, which helps form great relationships.

Be Positive

When you have a positive mindset, it allows you to radiate that positivity. When people get a very positive vibe from you, they will connect with you better. They will want to go that extra mile to spend more time with you. Jay Holstine says that people who emanate positivity are the ones who are likely to have more people around them at all times.

Respect Boundaries

While having a very candid relationship with colleagues is great, you have to respect their boundaries. Remember that you can only work well with them if you truly realize what they are all about. Don’t ever ask them questions that can make them even remotely uncomfortable.

Recognize Efforts

Whenever someone at work does something praiseworthy, recognize them for their efforts. When you do that, people take you as a positive person, says Jay Holstine.

Final Words by Jay Holstine

With these valuable tips on making friends at work, you can make your work so much more comfortable for yourself. Genuine friendships help you see the good in life and become a better version of yourself.

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Jay Holstine

Jay Holstine — Chairs a Vistage CEO peer group in Dallas Fort Worth and provides personalized CEO consultations for executives