Do we really enjoy the company of our colleagues? – As soon as I finished reading this email (copied below) by Rajesh, I had but one question in mind, which has never left me ever since. If it did, I wouldn’t be typing this right now, almost three weeks after receiving that mail.

To start with, I don’t even watch football and except the fact that I have heard the name Ronaldo somewhere, Rajesh’s email in the beginning neither enticed me nor was relevant. But as I proceeded reading through the mail, I realized it was less about football and more about the relationships you have with your colleagues.

That little hand you extend when your fellow colleague is in a rut, that extra hour you decide to stay and help your colleague complete their task so that they too could leave home after a long day, those little things you do that don’t sound like much but make an impact on their lives and go on to strengthen your bonds.

There is a reason that after spending a while at your workplace, you begin to refer to your colleagues as the “workplace family”. They are not just people you work with any more or just friends, but all those small things everyone does for each other including those surprises, sacrifices, little celebrations, that unspoken understanding, and the bond makes those colleagues your family.

This very relationship makes work ­– no matter how hard – something you look forward to every day. Though hard, your work might not be an obstacle anymore, but a challenge you look forward to solving because you know you are in the company of people who got your back.

Here’s the original email that inspired the post –

Most of you know that I am a big fan of Ronaldo. But he is regarded as one of the most-selfish players by many people across the globe. And even though I can argue that he is not selfish by any means, but to be honest, sometimes when he is playing, he really seems selfish. So, I wonder, how can his teammates handle him or do they just bear him because of his game?

And then I saw this match yesterday night. Please bear with me if you don’t like football, but I feel this is important.

Let me give you some background first

Ronaldo recently moved to a football club Juventus. Now, his move was unsettling for many superstars present in Juventus, as they felt the peer pressure. [Imagine a RA/SRA from same/different team being assigned the same job that you are working on – OMG, why has he/she been assigned that task? Am I doing something wrong?]

Story of Last Few Weeks

Now, there is this player Dybala who was quite unsettled by Ronaldo’s move (or at least as reported by media), and it started effecting his performance. Gradually, the coach started dropping Dybala from matches. Now, what Ronaldo did in a recent match was awesome – he scored a goal but he did not do his signature celebration (some people would know about it). Instead, he copied Dybala’s trademark celebration gesturing his coach that the team needs Dybala.

What happened in yesterday’s match?

Dybala was brought back to the team and he scored in the opening 10 minutes. And what he did after scoring the goal – you might have guessed, he dropped his trademark celebration and copied Ronaldo’s celebration. An hour later, Ronaldo scored and they together did a mixture of both celebrations. I mean, maybe I am a too die-hard fan of Ronaldo and that is why it seems amazing. And the entire media is buzzing about their friendship, and now they are being regarded as the best attacking duo in football at present.

After watching this, I was left with only one question – Do we really enjoy the company of our colleagues, like Ronaldo and Dybala? If no, it is high time we do, and you will see that work would be really fun.

Best regards, Rajesh

To developing better workplace relationships!