Last night I attended a dinner which was organized from afar by my good friend Jason Alba.
Jason has become friends with a great guy named Pete Johnson who was in
town for work so Jason suggested that Pete meet up with a few members
of our local blogging community. We had a great time and Pete is every
bit as interesting as Jason had told us. In fact Pete said something
last night that I thought we could all learn from.
At one point our group was discussing the fact that sometimes, in business, people who are introverted and prefer to focus on work rather than socializing have a hard time understanding the value of building relationships with coworkers. Pete made the point that when someone has a birthday and there is an office birthday party with cake and punch it's important to remember that it's not about the cake. The get-together and birthday celebration are about building camaraderie with your coworkers.
I must admit that I have made that mistake in the past too. You know what I mean...you have a deadline and are overwhelmed with work. You don't even really know Suzie in accounting so why take a break when you are on a roll to go to her birthday party in the break room?! Maybe you don't even eat cake. Why go? Because it's not about the cake. It's about the relationships that you can build when you take a short break and chat informally with coworkers.
So the next time you are invited to that office birthday party, take a break from work (no matter how busy you are)and walk on over to the group. Smile and chat with your colleagues even if you only do so for 5 minutes. Remember, it's not about the cake!
Original post can be found at the Ultimate Resumes Blog
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