Building Positive Relationships

1. Introduce Yourself - Tell everyone who you are and what role you have taken. Just by telling people your name, you are breaking the ice and paving the way for friendships to form. Make use of downtime in the kitchen or lunch room to chat with people and ask them questions. What department are they in? Where is good for lunch? What are their weekend plans? 
    
2. Make Time for Everyone - When you first start in a company, chances are the people you have met already are the higher-ups who interviewed you. The temptation will be to strive to impress them but be sure to make time to talk to and get to know everyone, the more junior staff too. A reputation is built across all levels, not just within the management team, so aim to make a good first impression with everyone. 
    
3. Decorate Your Workspace - This is a simple yet effective one. Make your desk space a conversation starter by adding personal touches. Maybe a photo or two of your nearest and dearest or a pet. This will help people get to know a little bit more about you and could inspire conversations. It may also make any shared interests you and a colleague have a bit more apparent. 
    
4. Be Proactive - You have knowledge and experience to bring to the team, so don't be afraid to take the initiative and help in group projects and show that you can deliver. If you can get stuck in and offer help and expertise right from the beginning, you will impress your colleagues and pave the way for good lasting professional relationships. But equally, only take on what you feel able to do, don't spread yourself too thin. Speak up in meetings, offer your ideas and support those of others.  
    
5. Deliver on Work - There is no quicker way to ruin your reputation and damage working relationships than letting the work slide. If you fail to follow through on a task or leave emails without responses, it will cause people to think of you negatively. In those first weeks, you may feel a little overwhelmed by all the new responsibilities, but if that is the case, it is much better that you voice that and be honest than let tasks slide and fail to deliver.
    
6. Be Positive - Within any company, there is bound to be office politics or gossip; it's an inevitability. As a new member of the team, try to avoid getting sucked into any of that. Treat everyone with a friendly, positive and professional demeanour, regardless of what anyone may tell you about a person. Allow yourself to make your own mind up about people based on their attitude toward work and not something you heard from someone else.