Productive, cohesive teams need strong relationships between workers, says one HR leader
As organizations continue to bring employees back into the office, much of the conversation has focused on productivity, collaboration, and performance. These are important considerations; however, we are missing an equally critical opportunity: the chance to reignite relationships.
Over the past several years, many organizations have become intensely focused on the “what” of work: deliverables, metrics, deadlines, and outcomes. While results matter, great organizations are not built on results alone. Sustainable success requires equal attention to the “how”: how we work together, how we build trust, how we communicate, and how we support one another through challenges and change.
Relationships are not a distraction from performance; they are a prerequisite for it.
Relationships form trust
When people trust one another, they collaborate more effectively. They are more willing to share ideas, challenge assumptions, ask for help, and take calculated risks. Trust creates psychological safety, and psychological safety fuels innovation, engagement, and accountability. Teams that are connected perform better because they spend less time protecting themselves and more time solving problems together.
The return to the office presents a unique opportunity to strengthen these connections. Being physically present with colleagues offers moments that cannot always be replicated through technology. Informal conversations, spontaneous collaboration, shared experiences, and genuine human interaction help create the bonds that underpin strong teams and healthy cultures.
However, simply bringing people back into a building will not automatically rebuild relationships. Leaders must be intentional. We need to create environments where people feel seen, heard, valued, and respected. We need to encourage curiosity, empathy, and open dialogue. We need to make time for connection, not just meetings.
Leaders should model desired behaviours
As leaders, we also have a responsibility to model the behaviours we want to see. If we expect collaboration, we must collaborate. If we expect trust, we must demonstrate trust. If we expect engagement, we must create opportunities for people to contribute and feel connected to a larger purpose. Too often, organizations celebrate outcomes while overlooking the behaviours that produced them. Yet culture is built through everyday interactions. It is shaped by how we treat one another when things are going well and, more importantly, when they are not.
As we embrace this next chapter of work, let's resist the temptation to focus solely on efficiency and output. Let's remember that organizations succeed because of people, not despite them.
The most successful workplaces will be those that strike the right balance between performance and relationships, accountability and trust, results and respect.
In the end, we cannot be truly successful if we focus exclusively on what gets done while dismissing how it gets done. The strongest cultures, and the strongest results, are built when both matter equally.
Janet Bray is the Vice President, Human Resources, at Pier 4 in Toronto.
