5 Things I Now Know About Building Relationships
As I consider my various job roles over the years, I have realized that I have been in the relationship business throughout my career. We all have. Whether they are external relationships with clients or internal with subordinates, peers and supervisors, they are all business relationships that have been navigated and managed in different ways.
And as I think about these various facets of building relationships there a number of things I have learned and 5 in particular that I believe were key to the success of enjoying genuine and healthy relationships that built mutual value and interdependence on each other.
Here are the 5 things I now know about building relationships:
1. Networking isn’t about what you can sell to someone
So many people that are not in their “own bubble” utilize networking opportunities to build relationships. By that I mean, if you work for a large size company there seems to be no reason to “network” because all the relationships you need to already exist within your corporate bubble. I could argue that’s not true, but maybe that’s a separate article! There are so many organizations and groups that offer the opportunity to meet like-minded professionals, but don’t go to sell. It doesn’t work. Go and find genuinely interesting people and learn about THEM.
2. Focus on how you can help
Stop thinking about what you do and start finding out how you can help others. What are THEIR pain points? What are things they are looking to solve? You may not have the answers, but someone you know may and then you have delivered real value.
3. Be genuine and sincere
This sounds obvious, but is it? Are we always open and honest or is that too risky? I have learned that “what goes round comes round” and if we are not honest with others, we are rarely honest with ourselves and that comes back and bites us.
4. Successful relationships are built on mutual trust
We hear this and it’s true. Real relationships are built on a foundation of trust and respect and without these, when hard times occur, which they always do, there is nothing to fall back on. There is no basis to allow the hard conversations and discussion that needs to happen to move things forward.
5. Be focused on whom to develop relationships with
Make sure we are focused and targeted about the relationships that we need to nurture. Focus on whom we need to spend time with and plan and schedule it.
As Mark McCormack (founder of the incredibly successful company IMG) once said: “All things being equal people will do business with a friend; all things being unequal, people will still do business with a friend”