Valentine’s Day puts relationships in the spotlight. At work, the relationships worth checking are the ones that shape your day: with your manager, your colleagues, other teams and the organisation you work for.
Do people listen? Can you ask for help? Does a promise turn into action? These everyday exchanges influence how work feels and how easily people can get things done.
Start with the relationships you rely on
You might have a brilliant relationship with your immediate team and still find it difficult to get a decision from another department. You may trust your manager while feeling disconnected from the organisation’s direction. Both experiences can be true.
Think about your own contribution, too. How do you respond when someone challenges an idea, needs information or makes a mistake? A useful reflection looks at the relationship from more than one side.
Take a quick relationship check-in
The check-in below explores six everyday experiences: trust, communication, support, recognition, working across functions and leadership follow-through. Answer from your experience, using “not sure” where you lack enough information.
Notice which relationships you have in mind. Your answer may change between your team, your manager and the wider organisation. Use this short reflection to start a useful conversation.
Where could a better conversation help?
Think about your own recent experience at work. Choose one response for each statement.
Find the gap behind the answer
A lower response is a starting point for a conversation. Get specific: what happened, who was involved and what would have helped? “Communication needs improving” is a big, blurry problem. “We receive changed customer requirements after the handover” gives people something they can address.
Look at strengths as well. If one team shares information well, ask what they do that others could try. Useful change can begin with something already working inside the business.
Choose one action you can actually take
Pick one relationship and one practical step. Ask a colleague what would make your handovers easier. Explain a decision your team has been waiting to understand. Recognise a contribution that has gone unnoticed. Or pick up the phone and clear up an assumption before another email chain grows.
Agree who will do what and when you will check back. Keep it small enough to use in real work. Two weeks later, ask whether the conversation or working habit feels more useful—and what still needs attention.
One perspective opens the conversation
Your answers describe your experience. They cannot tell us how the whole organisation feels. A team that works well for one person may feel very different to someone in another role, location or demographic group.
To understand the wider picture, bring survey findings together with interviews, workshops and relevant business evidence. Protect confidentiality, explore the differences and test possible explanations. A pattern is worth investigating; it does not establish what caused it.
Take the next step
Vibe’s Cultural Assessment helps organisations explore these experiences more widely. Our employee listening and engagement work brings people into the conversation, while our research methodology explains how we connect evidence with interpretation and action.
Start with an honest conversation. Give it a clear next step. Then come back and see what has changed.