For several people who operate from the coworking spaces, making good friends in the workspace is not easy. This can be quite intimidating most of the times. Even a shy introvert should necessarily learn how to become a good buddy at work. 50% of a person’s lifetime is spent working in the workplace. So, this is really worth investing an adequate amount of effort and time in investing in friendships at work.

Now the question arises how to go about the same. You should take a deep breath and say a warm “hello”. This will work as an icebreaker and you should add on a genuinely friendly smile as an add-on. As soon as you start saying “hi” & “bye” to your coworkers, they would also start saying the same to you in return. Soon, there would be more discussions and you would soon be able to make a few friends in a shared office. The people really like to talk a lot about themselves, their lives and their experiences. You should at times be a good listener and also return the favor. You should also show some level of interest in their lives and ask them a few questions. You should also talk about your struggles too. When you share your experiences with others, this will help you in bringing closer to others in a shared office.

You should be very confident in the presence of others whom you have never met before in your life. When a person becomes nervous, that shows on his face. You should be able to make proper eye contact with the concerned person whom you are talking to. The unspoken dialogues say a lot on what you are feeling. You should be able to speak with expressive eyes.

You should be able to find things which are in common between you and the other people in the shared office. Some of you must be having common interests like exercising, reading, going to a movie or shopping. You should be finding a group of like-minded people in the shared office and try initiating a friendship with them. If you find a few people who enjoy doing similar things which you do, this is obvious that friendship will start building up. And eventually, you will find that this friendship would extend outside the office also.

One thing that you should not indulge in while you make your efforts to make friends in a shared office is not to participate in gossips. You should ideally stay away from gossiping about others as this will hold no good to you in the future. This shouldn’t be your way to make friends. If you are making disparaging remarks about others, at some point of time, they would also talk rubbish about you sometimes. You should ideally keep yourself away from office politics. By doing so, you would set a good example for the others.

This is crucial to find some time from your busy schedule to visit the work events. There can be a get-together or lunch organized by the shared office management. You should necessarily visit these events which act as ice-breakers and help you to make friends in the shared office. You should not skip these events only because you are feeling shy. You should necessarily visit there with the determination to make friends. You can ask a couple of your newfound friends to go out for coffee. You might face rejections in this initiative but you should not be dejected with a failure.

There is another great way to get a coworker opening up is by asking for some help. You should not pretend that you know everything. If you require some suggestion or help with your office systems or the way the technology works, your coworkers will be glad to help you out with the same. People will empathize with you and that would build a friendly relationship.

If there is a possibility, you can help out others in their works at times of their stress. This would also help you in building a cordial friendship with them.

Finally, you should remember that the secret of making friends in a shared office is to put others first and being there for them at times of trouble. By doing so, you would be able to make a lot of friends in your workplace.