Business as Usual

Interpersonal Relationships in the workplace

What is cuter than a baby turtle?  Umm... nothing. There are dozens of people in Washington State alone, working toward saving the northwestern pond turtle (Actinemys marmorata marmorata) from extinction, an outcome that could not happen alone, requiring collaborations across agencies and the private sector. Click here for an overview of WDFW's efforts with the pond turtle, or here to see a visitor interpretive page at the Washington Park Zoo. I'll focus today on the maintenance of one of these interpersonal relationships. 

 Stefani Bergh (right) and I before the 2020 Columbia Gorge Invasive Species and Exotic Pests conference where we presented a talk about controlling invasive bullfrogs.

Stefani Bergh with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and I met when she was looking for someone to begin American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) control activities on behalf of one northwestern pond turtle population.  After working together for the last four and a half years we are friendly business acquaintances, but she is also someone who I would enjoy running into at the grocery store and chatting with about our families or our lives. This puts us at somewhere between stage 2 Experimenting and stage 3 Intensifying in Knapp's relational model theory (Welch and Rubin 2002).

Each year we negotiate the contract that will set the schedules and compensation for my company to work different areas around the Columbia River Gorge.  Initial yearly contact is usually accomplished through e-mails and texts to set up meetings where we discuss particulars.  Emails communications are business formal to begin with, using informative subject lines, formal salutations, short personal well wishes, closing lines, and succinct respectful language. After a few replies back and forth it is likely that some of the formalities fall away as we respond to each other's news.  We will likely have a phone call or zoom meeting to hash out any details and we smile and laugh about small day to day happenings without digging or prying into more personal matters. 

Once contracts are set and work begins, we primarily converse by texts.  In these short messages we ask questions that require easy short answers, set up any meetings we might have in the field, and give status updates on our whereabouts if necessary.  If there is anything complicated that we might need to discuss I'll send a text telling her I emailed her or asking if there was a good time to call.  These texts are always reviewed for spelling and punctuation before being sent resulting in a somewhat more professional vibe than were I talking to a friend or my daughter.

Because this is a multi-agency cooperative effort, we have local and regional meetings for activity coordination once a year. The last two years they have been in a zoom or Microsoft team's format. In these meetings, I may do a lot of listening, writing notes, and raising my hand to ask a question or offer a thought.  When it is my turn on the agenda I will do a formal presentation with PowerPoint, then spend time answering questions about my part of the efforts.  Presentations like these increase respect between colleagues. 

Maintaining relationships mean that there may be interactions outside of strictly the business at hand.  Stefanie has generously offered recommendations and passed on grant or work opportunities that I might appreciate, and we have both helped network by introducing people that would benefit from knowing each other or that we could help in some way.  For instance, she asked if I would work with a 1st grader who had contacted WDFW to find out about bullfrog control work, who then did a presentation for his class.  I introduced her to a US Geological Survey scientist that needed data for a paper he was working on.  

Business relationships, while more formal than personal relationships, can be enriching, informative, fun, and satisfying.  I feel lucky to have one such relationship with Stefanie. 

Citations:

Welch, S. A. and Rebecca B. Rubin. "Development of relationship stage measures." Communication Quarterly, vol. 50, no.1, 2002, pp. 24-40, DOI: 10.1080/01463370209385644