3 Ways to Better Connect with Your Coworkers | The Way We Work, a TED series

People feel pretty disconnected at work right now:

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Shelley Tsang 曾雯海

現今，大家在工作上 常感到無法連結，

disconnected from their organizations, from their jobs,

和他們的組織、 他們的職務無法連結，

and especially from their colleagues.

和同事更是無法連結。

你可能操勞到不想管最後這一項了，

You might feel too burned out to do anything about this last one

或者認為這一項無所謂。

or maybe think that it doesn't matter.

但實際上，我們和同事間的關係，

But actually, our relationships with our coworkers

play a huge role in determining how successful,

扮演了很重要的角色，決定我們

innovative and happy we'll be at work.

在工作上有多成功、創新、快樂。

[The Way We Work]

〔我們的工作之道〕

Our work relationships give us two valuable things:

我們的工作關係能帶給我們 兩樣珍貴的東西：

社交支持及取得資訊的管道。

social support and access to information.

And research shows it's the combination

研究顯示，這兩者的組合 能讓我們更快樂且更成功。

that can make us happier and more successful.

I'm a social scientist

我是社會科學家，我研究 我們協同工作的方式會如何

and I study how the way we collaborate affects our well-being

影響我們的幸福和職業上的成功。

and professional success.

I have a few tips,

我有幾個密訣，你不需要 是社交高手也能試試看。

and you don't have to be a social butterfly to give them a try.

好，密訣一：用倘開 心扉的方式建立信任。

OK, tip number one.

Build trust by opening up.

Having a close friend at work makes us more effective at our jobs

在工作上有位好友， 能讓我們在職務上更有效益。

and definitely improves our well-being.

且肯定能改善我們的幸福感。

If you get along with your coworkers, you probably already have a sense of this,

若你和你的同事處得來， 你可能已經對這一點很有感，

但工作上交朋友很重要的原因 還有一個，和資訊的取得有關。

but our work friends are important for another reason

and it has to do with access to information.

人不會隨便和別人 分享自己最好的點子。

People don't just share their best ideas with anyone.

我們和我們認識且相信的人分享。

We share with people we know and trust.

我在 Google 花了數年研究為什麼 有些團隊能成功，有些則失敗。

I ran a multi-year study at Google

to find out why some teams are successful and others fail.

And what we found is that the teams who trust each other do so much better

我們發現，信任彼此的 團隊表現好很多，

因為這些團隊的成員覺得 分享自己最佳的點子很安全。

because people on those teams feel safe sharing their best ideas.

So how can you start to build that trust?

所以你要如何著手建立那種信任？

There's a concept called a vulnerability loop,

有個概念叫做脆弱性迴圈， 其基本想法是：

and the basic idea is that when you’re vulnerable in front of somebody,

若你在別人面前表現出脆弱面，

也會讓他們更容易 在你面前表現出脆弱面。

it makes it a lot easier for them to be vulnerable in front of you.

We usually think you have to trust somebody before you can open up.

我們通常認為你要先信任 某人才能對他倘開心扉，

But what this research suggests is that often,

但這項研究發現，通常，

trust comes after we've been vulnerable and people have responded empathetically.

我們表現出脆弱面，而對方做出 有同理心的回應後才會出現信任。

So taking that risk to share that this week you feel a little off

所以冒著風險分享說 你這個星期狀況不佳，

because your kid's starting at a new school

因為你的孩子剛到一所新學校，

or maybe you’re really worried about the status of your big project,

或者也許說你很擔心 你手上那件大案子的狀況，

那其實對於建立信任感 是很有幫助的，

that can actually go a long way towards building a sense of trust

這種信任感能讓你 和你的團隊更有效益。

that can make you and your teams much more effective.

OK, tip number two, be a joiner.

好，密訣二：要參與。

Surprisingly, our closest friends aren't the best people

讓人意外的是，我們最好的朋友

並非給我們新資訊的最佳人選。

for giving us access to new information.

通常是我們的熟人，

It's often our acquaintances

because they connect us to different social circles

因為他們會讓我們 和不同的社交圈連結，

and consequently new ways of thinking.

因而連結到新的思考方式。

Social scientists call these relationships weak ties,

社會科學家稱這類關係為弱連結，

and when it comes to innovation,

就創新來說，

they're more important than our strongest connections.

它們會比強連結更重要。

比如，在一項研究中，

For example, in one study,

I found that people who had many weak ties

我發現，有許多弱連結可以

連結到一個大組織中不同團體的人，

that connected different groups in a large organization

were more likely to have high performance scores,

在績效分數上表現會較佳，

more likely to be promoted

比較有可能升遷，

and even more likely to say they were a part of a creative breakthrough.

甚至更有可能說他們 有參與某個創意突破。

The best way I've seen for developing weak ties

要發展弱連結，我見過最好的方法

is to join groups outside of your day-to-day work.

就是去參與你日常工作以外的團體。

Things like philanthropic organizations,

比如慈善組織、

sports clubs or employee resource groups are great examples.

運動社團，或員工資源團體 都是很好的例子。

You never know.

你玩匹克球時認識了法務部的 托賓，你永遠不會知道，

Tobin from Legal, who you met playing pickleball,

might have a great idea

哪天他可能就有個有助於 你下個案件的好點子。

that can really help you out in your next project.

對於試圖激發創新的領導者而言，

And for leaders trying to spark innovation,

having a regular trivia group might be more effective

參與一個定期的知識競賽小組 可能比參與策略高峰會更有效。

the best-run strategy summit.

OK, this last tip is especially helpful for managers.

最後一個密訣對主管特別有幫助。

Tip three: Make it a little bit easier for people to belong to something.

密訣三：讓大家更容易有所歸屬。

A number of years ago,

幾年前，我協助一間大企業 重新設計新員工入職流程，

I helped redesign the onboarding process at a big company.

At the time, the onboarding week was maybe informative,

當時，入職週也許資訊很多，

but it didn't do a lot to create meaningful connection.

但不太能協助建立有意義的連結。

So I ran an experiment.

於是我做了個實驗。

Every week, I assigned new employees to one of five groups,

每週，我都會把新員工指派到 五個團體的其中一個，

each with a different colored T-shirt,

每個團體穿不同顏色的 T 恤， 接著開始發生了神奇的事。

and something amazing started to happen.

Almost immediately,

幾乎馬上穿著黃色 T 恤的人 就開始一起吃早餐，

people wearing yellow T-shirts started having breakfast together.

穿綠色 T 恤的人開始 一起在不同部門間走動，

People in the green T-shirts

started walking between the different sessions together.

那週的尾聲，

And at the end of the week,

我們已經超過了快樂時光預算， 因為大家相處的時間比以往長多了。

we blew by our happy hour budget because people hung out together

so much longer than they ever had.

最棒的是，在那尷尬的入職週過後，

The best part is, after that onboarding week,

許多人還保持聯繫許多年，

many of those people stayed in touch for years,

成了組織中很棒的弱連結來源。

which became a great source of weak ties across the organization.

The reason the T-shirt experiment worked so well

T 恤實驗如此成功的原因

是因為它讓大家很容易 找出他們歸屬的團體。

is because it gave people an easy way to identify the group they belong to.

You could be creative here.

你可以發揮創意。

Even things like swag, T-shirts and project code names

就連文宣、T 恤，和專案代號 等等都可以協助創造歸屬感。

can go a long way towards creating a sense of belonging.

聽著，現今大家感到 很孤立且沒有連結。

Look, people feel really isolated and disconnected right now.

That's not surprising,

那不讓人意外，我們 都剛度過全球疫情。

we've all just been through a global pandemic.

The best part about reconnecting is that it doesn't just benefit you,

「重新連結」最棒之處 在於它不只讓你受益，

it benefits the whole community that you help create.

你協助創造的整個團體都能受益。