I’m a software developer. I work in a team of IT professionals who are passionate about two things…

  1. Business.
  2. Technology.

These two spaces are often in competition. More on that later, in another post.

Back to having ‘fun’.

Some people laugh out loud whilst they mill around a friends desk. People overtly show trust and camaraderie through a first bump. The inside chatter about the recent sports game. The selective professional outings. The Friday night drinks.

Some days I am part of the work space flow. Some days I am are excluded. I guess it’s a natural part of working life. But it is still quite strange that socialising at work often feels like a competitive space.

Trust. It doesn’t come easy. It’s difficult to cultivate. It’s easily lost. And when it comes to trust, having your superiors trust is paramount. The more I become aware of this the more I realise that strategic management decisions are more about trust that ability or implementation.

Other Relationships
I’m also blown away by the notion that other people who I work with invariably have complex unhealthy relationships that can be difficult to manage.

For example…
[These names and skills are not real.]
I have a colleague who works as a garden. His name is Orange. He works with another gardener called Black. Black is a senior gardener. Black is a man. Orange is a man. They are gardeners. They both report to Red. Red is a manager. Red is a man. They are all professional male gardeners.

Often Red and Black chat. They chat and laugh about life and work. All three enjoy work. But often when Orange spends time with Red or Black the other is adversely cautious. It’s as though spending time with one more than the other leads to a back lash of trust and reorganisation. The progressive trust space between the three is everyone’s concern. Orange needs to react when Black and Red fall in or out of love.

“My ability to garden is less important than my ability to build trust.””

What’s the solution?
If Orange want to have an easy work space he needs to ensure that Black is always kept in the loop. Black’s trust in Orange is what will help me develop as a professional gardener. it grinds against my sense of purpose and place, but I’m starting ponder if, my ability to garden is less important than my ability to build trust.

And by building trust, I mean, ensuring that manager Red feels as though he is in control and on the ‘inside’.

Gotta love inequality!

On a side note, have you ever noticed how this dynamic is affect when one of your team members calls in sick and the flow of knowledge is a whole lot easier?

On a personal note, I’m constantly surprised that people aren’t interesting in the collective well being. Is cash really that important?