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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that if you don't have a work best friend,

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Speaker 1: try to make one. Having a close friend at work

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Speaker 1: may help you do your job better, but it will

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Speaker 1: definitely make your time at work more enjoyable and less stressful.

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Speaker 1: Yesterday's Before Breakfast episode focused on celebrating close friendships at work.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is for people who don't have a close

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Speaker 1: friend at work yet. It's about how you might find

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Speaker 1: and make one. You may have heard about the Gallop

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Speaker 1: Employee Engagement survey question that asks whether you have a

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Speaker 1: work best friend. The question may seem a bit fluffy, random,

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Speaker 1: but Gallup has found that having a work best friend

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Speaker 1: is closely correlated with engagement. In an article by Alec

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Speaker 1: Patel and Stephanie Plowman, Gallup reports that people who strongly

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Speaker 1: agree they have a work best friend are more likely

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Speaker 1: to be satisfied with their workplace and to recommend it

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Speaker 1: as a place to work. They are less likely to

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Speaker 1: be looking for another job, and if you think about it,

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Speaker 1: this makes sense. A close friend is someone you would

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Speaker 1: willingly spend time with on evenings and on the weekends.

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Speaker 1: If you actually get to spend time with this person

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Speaker 1: during the work day, that is a life bonus all around.

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Speaker 1: But of course that raises the question how do you

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Speaker 1: make a work best friend? I like to use some

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Speaker 1: imagery from friendship expert Shasta Nelson of moving people up

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Speaker 1: the friendship ladder. Once we are not in fourth grade anymore,

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Speaker 1: we tend not to cast eyes on people and announce

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Speaker 1: that they will be our best friends forever. What we

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Speaker 1: tend to do is spend a lot of time with

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Speaker 1: people and then find we tend to like them, and

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Speaker 1: then create new opportunities to get together, and slowly a

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Speaker 1: tight friendship is formed. So first look around at the

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Speaker 1: people you already know and generally like at your workplace.

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Speaker 1: Are there people who might be amenable to deepening the relationship.

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Speaker 1: If you and Kathy and Accounting always enjoy a good

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Speaker 1: laugh when you chat, ask if she wants to grab

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Speaker 1: lunch with you today or tomorrow. If you and John

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Speaker 1: and Felicia have worked well together on a project, suggest

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Speaker 1: the three of you go out to celebrate briefly after

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Speaker 1: work someday. If you don't see any potential BFFs among

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Speaker 1: the people you know at your workplace. Consider volunteering for

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Speaker 1: departmental efforts so you can meet more people. For instance,

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Speaker 1: you might volunteer to help with the holiday party or

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Speaker 1: the quarterly receptions for new hires. You could join an

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Speaker 1: employee affinity group and meet other people with some similarities

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Speaker 1: to you. Or if it's a really small office, maybe

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Speaker 1: get involved in professional associations in your area and start

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Speaker 1: a regular meetup of some like minded folks. It's not

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Speaker 1: quite as good as a workplace BFF, but your five

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Speaker 1: person accounting adventures weekly happy hour group could wind up

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Speaker 1: being a source of a lot of pleasure and meaning

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Speaker 1: over time. For those of you who are managers or

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Speaker 1: who work in HR. Gallup offers recommendations for creating a

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Speaker 1: culture that supports workplace friendships. Ask yourself, do employees have time,

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Speaker 1: opportunities and permission to form a spontaneous connections I personally

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Speaker 1: am a big fan of during the day social and

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Speaker 1: group bonding opportunities, as official post work events tend to

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Speaker 1: put people with young families at a disadvantage. Gallup suggests

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Speaker 1: that leaders actually talk about the value of friendships. You

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Speaker 1: might also show that people can make time for all

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Speaker 1: sorts of friendships in their lives at work and outside

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Speaker 1: of work by showing that it's okay to leave before dark.

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Speaker 1: Having a work BFF isn't frivolous. It makes work more

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Speaker 1: enjoyable and probably makes people more productive. So if you

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Speaker 1: don't have a work best friend currently, maybe see what

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Speaker 1: you can do over the next year to move a

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Speaker 1: person or two up the friendship ladder. Or if you

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Speaker 1: are feeling ambitious, what about aiming to have a work

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Speaker 1: best friend. By what I see on one of those

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Speaker 1: silly holiday calendars is called work Bestie Day. That is

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Speaker 1: apparently October eighteenth. My guess is that in a few

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Speaker 1: months of consciously inviting people to do things and looking

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Speaker 1: for opportunities to chat and get to know people, you

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Speaker 1: can make progress. Even if you don't have a BFF yet,

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Speaker 1: you'll have more friends and that's a good thing too.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our times. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,

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Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts

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Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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Speaker 1: whereever you listen to your favorite shows.