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Effective Business Relationships - It Takes Just One Small Thing

Guest post by: Martin Haworth

Article Overview: Building useful relationships in a business world is probably one of the most valuable actions anyone can take. And we need all the help we can get to make this work...

Effective Business Relationships - It Takes Just One Small Thing

Yet there are many challenges to ensure that it's authentic and effective at the same time. Finding a particular trick that makes the difference can save a lot of time and energy, as well as being a very profitable indeed. We all have a passion.

In us there are certain parts of our lives that are very important to us and we love to spend time with them. These can be the work we do; the people we know; the hobbies and leisure activities we do; or the pets we have and love. In fact, the 'hot button' in our lives can be a myriad of things.

When we manage people, we need to engage with them on the most emotional of levels possible, to build the relationship by showing that we care about what's important to them. It's not that we don't care about their impact on the workplace, but it is more about showing that we know that work isn't necessarily the most important thing to them in their world.

Once we have the knowledge we need to log into what's important to them, we have to remember it on those occasions we get into conversations, by showing a genuine interest in the topic.

Whilst in our busy working lives this could be seen to be an imposition we could do without while focusing on the important things we do, it's important not to underestimate the unseen, yet critical value this focus gives us.

By raising the issue of how their newset grandchild is; or how their scuba diving course went; or (and work is allowed too!); what happened when they were recently interviewed for a promotion, we endear ourselves to those that matter most to us in our work, those team members who deliver for us.

There's a little more to gain too. When you show interest in what others are passionate about you find it a lot easier to remember names. You encourage then to be very open with you because you show you care, building trust.

You learn much about them that otherwise you would not. Not least, knowing them better enhances your life too.

By remembering a little about your people, there is much more value to gain than you might expect.

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Article Tags: building trust, challenges, conversations, critical value, genuine interest, hobbies, hot button, important things, imposition, leisure activities, myriad, occasions, passion, pets, relationship, scuba diving course, team members



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