I’m lucky to work with some amazing colleagues, in my various positions. And I work hard to reciprocate, being the best colleague I can be for them.
We sometimes narrow collegiality down to “agreeable” but there’s a lot more to it than that. Here are some of the traits that I see contributing to great collegiality.
- Competence. You can’t be great colleague if you don’t do your job well.
- Friendliness. You can’t be a great colleague if you don’t engage in a personal relationship.
- Trust. You can’t be a great colleague if you don’t have and show trust in your colleagues.
- Communication. You can’t be a great colleague without clear communication.
- Respect. You can’t be a great colleague if you don’t show respect.
With competent colleagues with distinct visions work together, there will be disagreements. There will be situations where we can’t find solutions without someone giving up ground. But if we approach this with all the traits of collegiality, we can find a way to move forward and work together well.