Hey, it’s 📣 Coach Erika! Welcome to a 🔒 subscriber-only edition🔒 of The Career Whispers. Each week, I tackle reader questions about tech careers: how to get one, how to navigate them, and how to grow and thrive in your role.
A great deal of research and expertise goes into every post on The Career Whispers, and I hope you’ll spend the two-latte equivalent to feed your brain and upgrade your subscription. If you do, you’ll get access to this and all 3-7 monthly TCW posts, across these thoughtfully crafted career experimentation series:
JOB SEARCH DIARIES
THE WEEKLY WHISPER
DEBUGGING YOUR JOB SEARCH
MVIP (MINIMUM VIABLE INTERVIEW PREP)
CLEVER GUERILLA
BONUS EDITIONS and more (see all the paid subscriber benefits here)
Let’s dive in ↓
Whisper #15
Expressing love for colleagues
The Five Love Languages is a book by Gary Chapman that explains the concept of how people tend to give or receive love. TLDR is that we all have a preference for the ways that people show us love or appreciation. The other four languages are usually much less effective. If you know someone’s preferred love language, you should try to show them love in that way. It will mean more to them.
While the 5 Love Languages are typically conceived for the romantic concept, today’s Whisper implores you to consider this framework when showing appreciation and care for your colleagues, too 💕
A 1-minute primer on the 5 love languages
Words of affirmation are about giving compliments and verbal recognition.
Acts of service are about doing helpful things, big or small.
Quality time is about focused, meaningful connection.
Receiving gifts is about tokens of thoughtfulness, not extravagance.
Physical touch is about expressing connection through physical contact (given that this article is about work colleagues, we’re going to skip this one 😉)
Most of my closest friends are people I met at work, and I truly love them. When we worked together, I first admired their brilliance and capabilities. Over time, this admiration grew to care and affection beyond the job. I am sure there are colleagues at work who you appreciate and admire as well. Why not show them?