Much in the same way that having positive relationships with students may make your day to day easier, so to can having positive relationships with other staff. Staff are within your department or area of expertise, staff that teach another subject or are in another area of the school, and even support staff can be invaluable to your own practice. These relationships may assist you in developing appropriate learning programs for struggling students, or they may provide you will lesson plans or ideas that you may implement in your own classroom – bear in mind, this is a time saver and limits the amount of work you need to do in your own time to prep for your lessons. Additionally, support staff make for remarkable contacts and can prove to be useful friends if you require assistance with administrative work which you very well may not have time to complete yourself.

The tricky thing in this respect, is that you will not like all of your colleagues, and in actual fact, unless you teach at a small school in a tight-knit community, you likely won't even know everybody. Again, try not to confuse workplace relationships with friendships, they're different things. In the workplace, being polite and amicable opens up the opportunity for communication and sharing of information and goods, a friendship is formed when personal contact between two parties is made outside of work hours and usually off school premises – this is not necessary not is it expected. However that's not to say you won't make a life-long friend or two along the way.

Things you can do to build and maintain such relationships include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Friendly/polite greetings; hello's, goodbye's, how are you's?
• If you hear something nice, say something nice. A student liked their lesson, a colleague commented on their professionalism/abilities. Pay compliments when appropriate.
• Sparingly ask personal questions – get to know your colleagues. Family life, interests, hobbies, likes/dislikes. You may even find you have something in common to bond over.
• Share your own resources where possible. If you give some, you'll likely get some in return.

Some people will be responsive, whereas others may not. Don't try too hard, and you don't need to form relationships with every staff member at your school. Be inclusive of all, but selective in those you expend your energy with. After all, a teachers time is limited, select your peers wisely and don't bother with those who don't return favours or niceties.