I don’t have “people.” Heck, I don’t even have an office, a real job, or a department. But if I did, I’m pretty sure I’d find this article on building workplace relationships helpful.
Because I know it is something I often had trouble with when I was working. Not to name names (ha!), but one department I always had trouble working with was the IT department. My not-so-nice comment was usually something about how they thought they were too good to help us, or they thought they were too “busy” (read: “too important”), or something equally snarky. But really, if I had worked on building a relationship with that department— paying attention to how they wanted to be contacted, learning about (and respecting) their priorities—maybe I would have better luck.
Now, maybe you can learn from my mistakes, and from that blog post. Build those relationships, not just with colleagues, but whole departments. I think you will be glad you did, and it will pay off in the long run.
A Life in Libraries 