“The Manager’s Path” contained an impressive phrase: “I myself am the type of person who doesn’t want ‘friendly relationships’ at work,” so I’d like to share it.

I myself am the type of person who doesn't want "friendly relationships" at work. 「私自身は、職場では「お友達の関係」を望まないタイプの人間です。」

I feel the need to state this because everyone sometimes maintains a certain distance from colleagues for reasons like “being shy” or “not wanting to get too close at work.” I’m sometimes perceived as the type who actively wants to make work friends, so I don’t know how readers will take this when I write it, but I can assert this 「こう申し上げておく必要性を感じたのは、誰しも「内気だから」「職場ではあまりどっぷり親しい関係になりたくないから」といった理由で、同僚とは付かず離れずの間柄を保つことも時にあるからです。私は仕事上の友人を積極的に作りたがるタイプだと思われることがあるので、こんなことを書くと読者の皆さんにどう受け取られるかわかりませんが、でもこれは断言できます」

──“I understand your feeling of not being particularly interested in the human aspects of the people around you at work.” 「──「どちらかというと職場では周囲の人々の人間的な面にはあまり関心をもたないというあなたの気持ちはよくわかる」と。」

However, that doesn’t mean you can use “being shy” as an excuse to not treat the people you interact with at work as human beings. The foundation of strong teams is human bonds, which become the source of trust. And building trust relationships—true trust relationships—requires the magnanimity to boldly show your weaknesses to others. 「だからといって「内気であること」を言い訳に、職場で接する人々を人間扱いしなくてよいかというと、そんなことはありません。強力なチームの基盤となるのは人間同士の絆であり、それが信頼の源となるのです。そして信頼関係──真の信頼関係──を構築するには、相手に堂々と弱みを見せられる度量が求められます。」

Quote from “The Manager’s Path” P3

Reasons for "Not Wanting 'Friendly Relationships' at Work"

I’m also “the type of person who doesn’t want ‘friendly relationships’ at work,” and I thought about the reasons why I naturally adopted this stance:

• Evaluation judgment becomes dull
• Work priority judgment becomes dull
• It becomes harder to give negative feedback

When you become friends, you might give positive evaluations or prioritize unimportant tasks just because you were asked, which dulls essential judgment.

Also, from a manager’s position, there’s the concern that it would become difficult when you need to give negative feedback.

That’s all from an engineering manager at the Gemba who doesn’t want “friendly relationships” at work.