Effective communications are crucial to the daily office network and team bonding. One of the easier ways to reach out and make stronger connections with your coworkers is to be relatable to others, like sharing details on your personality through your personal lifestyle habits.
People should know that you are not only a hardworking colleague that have ingenious ideas who works in the accounts department but also as an individual who occasionally loves to bake delicious cookies on weekends, have two children, a supporter of LGBTQ and recently been to the Bahamas for a short getaway. Sharing details of who you are as a person will create a bond with the other person regardless whether they share the same hobbies or lifestyle as you.
However, there is a fine, thin line bordering on tipping over to oversharing your personal life and views causing more harm or rather an irritation than to create a bond with the other person. Below are some of the subjects that we tend to overshare so be careful.
Babies & Children
We are so proud of our little ones that sometimes we can be over enthusiastic as parents or grandparents. If you say yes to more than one of the following, you are in danger of oversharing:
Desktop wallpaper and screensaver full of photos of your kid
You have at least 3 photo frames of your kid
Your Monday’s story always never fails to mention what your child did over the weekend.
Your pantry conversations are all about the latest baby product reviews (unless of course, you work at Johnson & Johnson
You form lunch group with the Mums in your office
Instead of brainstorming on your next marketing ideas, you share baby photos with anyone sitting next to you in the meeting room.
Latest Love Life
We know it is hard to meet someone interesting enough to date nowadays, even on Tinder. You are in love, and you want to shout on top of your lungs. We get it. But flaunting your hickeys on your neck, gazing into thin air during meetings and giggling at some random messages you received for the fifth time within an hour is a big no no. Worse when you start sharing your dating escapades and your sex life. Seriously….nobody really wants to know about the one night stand you scored at the club last night.
Travel Tales
We love hearing travelling stories and looking at your countless photos of the same beaches in different angles but don’t expect us to go ‘wow’ at every picture you showed us. That is what Facebook is for, to ‘like’ your 32 photos of sushi. Travel stories and photos are only as exciting as if I am the traveller. Plus there are thousands of blogs and websites for reference if we really want to find out more about the location you’ve been to.
Confidentiality
The obvious rule is that if something is confidential, it should stay secret. You may instantly feel puffed up and important, sharing something confidential but it will come back to bite you in the back eventually. As much as I always believe that knowledge is power, some information is better left unknown especially if it will affect how you perceive and influence your decisions or performance.
Political Opinions
Trump or Clinton? Bad or Good? Democrats or Republicans? Regardless, keep the political issue out of the workplace. Political views when not reign in can ruin a good bonding relationship in teams and departments. You are entitled to your opinions, sure, you have your rights, just keep it to yourself.
Do you have coworkers that share way too much and get on your nerves? Please share it in the comments below!
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