Even under the best circumstances, work relationships tend to involve a certain level of awkwardness. Spending 40+ hours a week with a group of people under (somewhat) forced conditions can easily result in tensions, poor communication, and even conflicts. On a less dramatic scale, it’s challenging to maintain a warm and friendly workplace-social rapport with people you may not choose to hang out with on your own time (a common occurrence among colleagues, unless you’re very lucky!).
The Cut did a bit of investigative reporting on the “how to make people like you” matter, and they discovered that an egocentric approach - one in which you talk about yourself rather than try to find out about the other person - doesn’t typically yield the results you want. If this sounds like you, don’t feel bad; according to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, many people begin interactions this way, often out of a lack of anything else to say: “[M]ost people spend the majority of their conversations sharing their own views rather than focusing on the other person.”
Melissa Dahl of The Cut explains the fallout of this instinct without mincing any words. Basically, she says, “no one is as interested in you as you are”. So if your goal involves finding common ground with a coworker and generally improving their impression of you, it makes sense to turn the conversation to a topic that they as humans are inherently invested in: themselves.