You’ve worked hard, made some friends and now you’ve been invited to a works night out. Sounds like a great way to unwind and bond with your colleagues.
While that may be the case for some, for others the experience is not so straight forward. If you’re not careful, social activities can have a profound effect on your working relationships and career. So what are the positives, negatives and dos and don’ts of a works night out?
Positives
This may have been a casual invite from a colleague or two. If you are new, it could be a friendly way of inviting you to be part of the team.
The social activity could offer a great opportunity to build friendships. If you are new to an area this is likely to be welcome.
If you are career focused you might also want to network. Find out who else is going and bear your career objectives in mind. If you want to use the social event to help your career, prepare beforehand and conduct yourself professionally at all times.
Negatives
Some people prefer not to socialise with people they don’t know well or to separate work from their social life. If you don’t want to attend a social activity you shouldn’t feel pressured to do so. If you feel not attending might be perceived badly by others you could accept one or two invitations a year and plan your involvement.
For instance, you could come along for one drink or the first half hour only. Just showing face should be enough to connect with others and communicate your commitment to the team.
Be aware of anyone in the team that might be being excluded from invitations as this could be a form of bullying.
The Dos
If you decide to accept the invitation to socialise after working hours you will need to be aware of the Dos and Don’ts.
Do plan the evening out so you achieve your objectives. That might be to make friends, build professional relationships with others that you might not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise or simply to relax and have some fun.
Whatever you want to get out of the experience think about everything from what you want to wear to what you want to say.
Always remember you are going to be working alongside the people you are socialising with and whatever happens on your night out may affect your relationships.
If you do want to get to know everyone, bond with the team or simply network, speak to everyone. Don’t just find someone to talk to and ignore everyone else unless you find socialising difficult.
The Don’ts
If alcohol is involved be careful not to drink too much. Decide when you are going to stop drinking and stick to it. Remember this is not the kind of social evening you might have with your own friends away from work.
Consider very carefully the consequences of getting too close to a work colleague. Office romances can be great and many a long term relationship started as an office romance. However if it goes wrong working alongside each other every day might become unbearable.
Social events are a great way to pick up work gossip, but don’t allow your antics to become the gossip. No matter how close you may become with your work colleagues, there is still a professional relationship there that will need to be maintained.
Don’t accept an invitation to a social event and then spend your time catching up with your social media or texting other friends. Your phone should be away in your bag or pocket until you’re ready to go home.
And finally…
An invitation to socialise with your colleagues is common in many industries and it can offer some excellent opportunities to advance your career. It also enables you to forge and maintain a team spirit.
Downtime with work colleagues can be an opportunity to let off steam and build friendships that might otherwise not exist. It can also provide fertile ground for fallouts and arguments that can spill over in to the workplace.
If you feel comfortable in social gatherings there is a lot to be said for a works night out, but you need to be in control if you want to achieve the outcome that is right for you.