How do I stop being so transactional at work?

You get things done, and you get them done through people you never really know. It works, until the day you need something that only trust can provide, and you find you have not built any. Noticing this now is not a character verdict. It is a chance to change course. Transactional is not cruelty. It is often just efficiency taken too far, treating every exchange as a trade to be closed. But people can feel when they are a means to an end, and they hold something back. The irony is that the relationships that pay off most are the ones you did not enter to get paid. This week, have one conversation with no agenda. Ask someone about their work and their life and want nothing from it but to understand them. It will feel strange. Do it anyway. Real relationships start the moment the transaction stops.