Power of first impressions: Making the office a Friendly and inviting place to be

First Impressions 

“You need to know the rules of office life before you get into it,” he told me. It was his first day and he was nervous. I laughed at him but took a serious look at it and tried to process it all out. There were people who would want to see what they didn’t know, or be challenged, or not get intimidated by the office environment, or maybe even just don’t want to get their hopes up, so let them have that. But it wasn’t like that for everyone.

Most of us had already done our homework on the culture inside of the office before joining the team. We weren’t looking forward to hearing about any new rules or policies, we wanted to go to work and meet the people, and while we did have some concerns around politics, we were also aware there was an opportunity to make connections with employees outside of the firm. In my experience, once I started working on this project I realized that most of the meetings and activities I had been involved in as part of being a member of the company didn’t actually matter to the way people worked or how they communicated with each other, it was more important I could learn from these interactions and create an atmosphere where everyone felt comfortable discussing things with each other.

In order to ensure that every person feels valued and treated fairly, we started with something small. One day when we were having lunch, we decided to ask the cafeteria workers if they knew anyone who might be willing to sit in on a call. They were very friendly and helpful, and we ended up talking for a few minutes. After that, we went over to another meeting room and asked the same question. All of the staff were incredibly nice and welcoming. At least one was extremely kind and generous, which led me to think about making those kinds of decisions based on the feedback of others.

I thought about asking someone else if they knew anyone who might be interested in participating on a call. This decision proved fruitful, as soon after we started talking to her, she came up and said she knew a guy who could sit in for a bit for free if he wanted to talk to us about anything. She was incredibly sweet, and we agreed to do it. Later, she became our second-ever employee and we got to know her quite well. When I say we had a great time, I mean it. We talked about everything from our hobbies to our kids, and at the end of the afternoon we hung out together. As an added bonus, I was able to share a bit of my own story about getting fired from another job, which made her feel comfortable enough to tell me her story, too. Even though we were starting out a little different, we quickly found what we had in common on the phone call — the willingness to help each other out, the commitment to helping each other grow, and the ability to listen to each other and make sure everyone was heard.

Our relationship lasted beyond lunch that day, and we spoke again in the evening, but we never forgot about it. For example, I’d often bring up a topic that bothered her, and she would respond with something interesting. Sometimes I would ask her questions or try to explain what I was trying to understand; other times she would just share something funny and funny I would respond with. Either way, she seemed genuinely interested in sharing her thoughts with me. She was kind and understanding, and it was clear to me that the conversation was going well. That evening, we sat down together and talked about whatever topics were on our minds, and we talked through lunch, at which point we bonded over shared interests and values. Our friendship continued throughout the rest of the week and we became fast friends with many different things, such as our love of anime, music, sports, and art.

The following year, during Christmas break, we decided to give a presentation for our colleagues to celebrate the holiday. Being a part of corporate culture, it was no surprise they were very interested in our presentation. While I knew we weren’t invited to present it, I still managed to find ways to include myself and to make it fun and entertaining for everyone. I gave speeches on the importance of teamwork and group dynamics, which were both received very positively. People were laughing and clapping when I spoke about how important it is to build strong relationships with your coworkers, and how hard it can be to maintain good ones. Other slides showed examples of some great team stories I’d read about earlier in the week, and I used those to show off the various qualities and skills of each individual. Everyone knew the speech had to be short, but I made sure to keep it light enough to avoid feeling repetitive. What was left after was much better than I expected, and I think was partly due to the fact that I kept the slides short enough to allow everyone to take a breath before moving onto the next one.

The highlight of our annual celebration was a fancy party for the executives. There was lots of dancing, singing, and laughter, and we spent the night sharing stories and experiences of working together with our coworkers. By this point, we were confident in our friendship — we were both fully invested in each other and there was no drama, just happy and loving energy between us. We were also excited about the prospect of growing together, and knew we would be able to support each other in achieving our goals. It turns out that many of the ideas we discussed on that last morning were really beneficial to our future cooperation.

Some, like bringing our teams together to discuss issues of mutual interest, were implemented immediately, while others like giving each colleague credit when they helped each other, are just becoming habits. Ultimately, however, the biggest lesson learned was that I needed to trust my instincts and to listen to what those around me had to say. If they weren’t saying something along those lines, then I should probably not take their advice.