Do you have Allies at Work?

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The local paper had an article entitled ?Make work, not war?. It cites a book entitled, ?Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships? by Morag Barrett.

According to the article, Barrett explains that work relationships fit into four categories:

1. ?The Ally? will have your back at all times and is invested in your success. This is an unconditional relationship, one that you can depend on during good and tough times.
2. ?The Supporter? is fun and can be relied on to help out when times are good. But when the going gets tough, they might not take personal risks to help.
3. ?The Rival? tends to behave in a more overtly competitive way, with the competition focused not just on the next promotion but also on limited company resources.
4. ?The Adversary? is either an ?Overt Adversary? whose actions are right out in the open, or a ?Covert Adversary? who is causing disruption without being identified. The motto of an adversary is ?I?m against you?!

I don?t believe I have had a real ?Ally? at work, since I was ~ 20. At that time, I had a job working with my life-long friend (someone I have known who I was 5 and am still friends with). I was wondering if others have real ?Allies? at work.

I have "supporters," especially if they won't get in trouble for being my "supporter."

No real "allies" who would risk their neck for me. I have no problem with that, by the way.

Otherwise, everybody's pretty neutral. They don't want to rock the boat.

There might be a couple of "rivals"--but they don't affect me. The management knows I do a good job, and have been doing it since 1980.

Since I began work after graduating from college, most people have been neutral for me as well. Unfortunately, I have had more ?adversaries? than ?supporters?.

The ?adversaries? were essentially ?enemies? I made at work. I had no problem with them. They had a problem with me. In fact, these people requested (to my manager) that they not work on the same projects with me. This didn?t just happen once or twice. But multiple times at almost every job I?ve had.

I have a few "supporters", but not allies

Yes I have 3 allies at work whom we all have each other's back and this has been proven multiple times! But... we are still not really "friends" and do not communicate outside of work. Our relationships are only workplace related...