It’s All in the Relationship

I was reminded recently of the importance of relationships, whether personal or professional.  This is something that comes up frequently and it did again in a relatively powerful way a week ago.

People respond to requests based on personal relationships.  If you have a good one, you will get a response.  If you don’t have a great one or a non-existent one, you may not get a response, especially if you’re making a request. 

This is a fact of life in business.  While we do cold calls to people we don’t know to generate business, the real ways things happen is through your own network.  The strength of this is important.  People must respect you and like you.  It is not enough to have one or the other.  Ideally, you have both!

Respect is important because this means you deliver.  You make promises and you meet them.  You get positive results over and over.  Being liked is also important.  If you get results, but you roughshod over everyone, you will not be liked.  You may be feared and in a professional relationship, and that may get people to do their jobs, but you won’t be liked and so you miss out on the informal connectivity that is so important in building solid relationships.

I am not the best at this, but I am fairly good now.  I still want to improve though.  I am in a profession and a function that depends heavily on relationships, like most do.  There are some professions, like being a healthcare provider, where relationship skills are important but you can get away without having good ones.  You can’t do that in the kind of work I’ve been doing and will continue to do.

It really is all in the relationships!  A good thing to be reminded of.  An even better thing to become relationship-oriented as a way of living!  I’m there.  But I strive to be much better.