We deal with people everyday of our lives. People interaction forms part of what we do everyday. We can either be communicating with the same people everyday or meet new ones. Forming relationships with the people we meet and deal with is an integral part of personal success and achievement of goals. Simple as it may sound, it is not easy building good and long-lasting relationships. In fact, it is a skill to know how to create and manage good relationships with people. There are those who excel in such ability, making it their outstanding personal quality.
Leaders and successful businessmen are two obvious examples of those who possess this ability and manifest it with such expertise. How do these people manage to be good at what they do? How do they manage to keep the ties with those they work with both inside and outside the organization?
The Essence of Relationship Management Skill
As we assume more professional and mature responsibilities, the ability to manage relationships becomes more important. We will need to learn other skills necessary in creating bonds with others. According to Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, there are six core competencies in the aspect of relationship management:
• Inspire: You start out building better relationships by serving as an inspiration. Some people need motivation or a driving force to push them to do things. If you motivate other people, you can empathize with them and make them see reality in a bigger picture.
• Influence: You get people to listen and follow your moves by being influential in actions and speech. One you have become influential, people easily believe and trust your abilities. You get the support of your team without so much hassle.
• Develop: The third core competency of relationship-management encourages us to develop others in ways such as recognizing their accomplishments, giving feedback, coaching, and the like.
• Initiate Change: Being vigilantly aware of what is going on in our surroundings and the changes that we invoke help form better bonds especially when you show to them that any positive change or changes for the better start with you.
• Manage Conflict: Conflict management requires good listening and self-control. Part of building good relationships is learning how to handle difficult and challenging situations with tact. You attempt to find a solution and encourage open communication instead of dwelling on the problem.
• Establish Teamwork and Collaboration: Promoting teamwork and cooperation allows for active participation from the members and create a sense of commitment. Moreover, it keeps relationships long-lasting and strong.
Evaluating the Skill of Relationship Management
In a corporate setting, some companies use relationship assessment tools to let their employees and managers gauge their skill in relationship management. One example used is the Ki Thoughtbridge’s relationship assessment tool. The criteria prepared are agreed upon and discussed by the management. But when relationship assessment is conducted, the level of trust between and among individuals must be taken into consideration. An important step in the assessment is giving feedback in order to make everyone aware of the areas they were good at and the areas they need to improve more on.
Open forums also make a good gauge to managing relationships. With this set-up, individuals are compelled to be open about their sentiments and contentment. In order to get the participation of every person, proper conditioning must be conducted and establishing clear goals should be given. Everyone must focus on the good it will bring to each and every individual.
Being Better at Relationship Management
In what ways can you build better relationships with people and develop this personal quality? Here are some simple tips you can try:
a. Make sure that your relationship with other people is built on trust and honesty.
b. Respect for oneself and respect for those you deal with are very crucial factors in keeping the bond strong aside from trust.
c. Good communication skills form part of successfully built relationships. Be a good listener, and learn how to manage conflicting situations well.
d. Offer what you can do and contribute as a way of showing that you care.
We are all capable of being experts in relationship management. Just like the belief of Daniel Goleman, according to him it is more than possible to create better and stronger relationships with people one step at a time.
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