Is it important to have friends at work?

<p>Glady Baradaran started this conversation by say unequivocally yes. For her, having a best friend at work who she can send an eye roll emoji to during a meeting to feel the relief of having a shared experience is super important.</p> <p> </p> <p>Dave Roberts agreed saying that having friends at work for the emotional support makes the day-to-day experience better. He also shared a personal story about how having friends at worked helped him get through the loss of his daughter.</p> <p> </p> <p>Todd Karges brought in the idea of friends being able to provide and help create psychological safety that managers or the larger organization as a whole just can’t offer. Which might be a flaw in the organizational structure that employees have to figure out how to make that happen on their own with each other.</p> <p> </p> <p>I followed up with the question, are friends at work different from friends outside of work. You’ll have to tune into our conversation for their answers.</p> <p> </p> <p>Do you think that having a friend at work is important?</p> <p> </p> <p>This panel enjoyed their time together so much they asked me to schedule them together again to answer the question, what if you don’t have friends at work?</p> <p> </p> <p>Look for that conversation in the coming days.</p> <p> </p> <p>(Apologies for Glady’s scratchy mic. She was able to get it sorted ahead of our next conversation.)</p> <p> </p> <p>Connect with the panelists: Glady Baradaran: <a href='https://www.linkedin.com/in/glady-baradaran-6238071a/'>https://www.linkedin.com/in/glady-baradaran-6238071a/</a></p> <p>15 years of HR experience and a love for organizational development. Based in Canada.</p> <p> </p> <p>Todd Karges: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddkarges/</p> <p>Has a background in project management and building agile development mindsets.  He is a transformation and change management practitioner and a leadership development coach. Based outside of Toronto.</p> <p> </p> <p>Dave Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-roberts-56690513/</p>