How to build good work relationships?

Good relationships start with good people skills. Take our How Good Are Your People Skills?  quiz to find out how well you score with "soft skills" such as collaboration, communication and conflict resolution. This self-test will point you to tools that will help you deal with any weaknesses that you have.

Look at your own relationship needs. Do you know what you need from others? And do you know what they need from you?

Understanding these needs can be instrumental in building better relationships.

Devote a portion of your day toward relationship building, even if it's just minutes, perhaps broken up into five-minute segments.

For example, you could pop into someone's office during lunch, reply to people's postings on Twitter  or LinkedIn , or ask a colleague out for a quick cup of coffee.

These little interactions help build the foundation of a good relationship, especially if they're face-to-face.

Also, spend time developing your emotional intelligence  (EI). Among other things, this is your ability to recognize your own emotions, and clearly understand what they're telling you.

High EI also helps you to understand the emotions and needs of others.

Show your appreciation whenever someone helps you. Everyone, from your boss to the office cleaner, wants to feel that their work is appreciated. So, genuinely compliment the people around you when they do something well. This will open the door to great work relationships.

Focus on being positive . Positivity is attractive and contagious, and it will help strengthen your relationships with your colleagues. No one wants to be around someone who's negative all the time.

Make sure that you set and manage boundaries  properly – all of us want to have friends at work, but, occasionally, a friendship can start to impact our jobs, especially when a friend or colleague begins to monopolize our time.

If this happens, it's important that you're assertive  about your boundaries, and that you know how much time you can devote during the work day for social interactions.

Don't gossip – office politics  and "gossip" are major relationship killers at work. If you're experiencing conflict with someone in your group, talk to them directly about the problem. Gossiping about the situation with other colleagues will only exacerbate the situation, and will cause mistrust and animosity between you.

Practice active listening  when you talk to your customers and colleagues. People respond to those who truly listen to what they have to say. Focus on listening more than you talk, and you'll quickly become known as someone who can be trusted.