As adults, we will spend most of our waking lives in the workplace. This means that our life satisfaction will be heavily impacted by the quality of our interactions with co-workers. My work experiences with both outstanding and aggravating co-workers have helped me determine the three traits that I most value in a co-worker: reliability, a positive attitude, and an ability to handle disagreements.

To me, the most important characteristic that a good co-worker has is reliability. Good co-workers will complete assigned tasks on time and deliver good quality output. When I was an intern at a hoverboard manufacturing company, I had the opportunity to be on two different work teams. Each member of the first team was very diligent and did their fair share in developing an excellent market analysis report that we had to submit to senior management. It was a great experience. On the second team, there were two people who procrastinated in submitting their portions of the logistics report, and when they finally did, their analyses did not consider key variables that senior management explicitly asked for us to include. It was a very frustrating experience for the other team members and I because we had to stay up very late and redo those portions.

Another characteristic I really appreciate in a co-worker is a positive attitude. Though I was not as experienced as the members of the first team were, they complimented me on my hard work, and despite the challenges we faced tracking down necessary data, they were always optimistic that we would generate a good report. This encouraging work atmosphere really motivated me to do my best and made my experience at work very enjoyable. On the second team, however, one member regularly complained during team meetings that the final report would be shoddy. This made for a depressing and stressful work environment. Consequently, I really wanted to be back on the first team again.

Finally, I put a high value on the ability to handle disagreements effectively. People in any organization will have diverse life experiences, different personalities, and various perspectives. Being able to collaborate with a co-worker who can tactfully facilitate discussions to resolve conflicts that inevitably stem from these differences can help everyone have a more pleasant work experience and be more productive.

In sum, if I could design my ideal co-worker, the person would be reliable, positive, and able to manage conflicts. Together such a co-worker and I could deliver great results to our company and feel happy during the process.