What's the Secret to Understanding Relationship Dynamics?

If I look around my workplace today, very few of my colleagues take the time to build and nurture relationships. Yes, they’ll have conversations about work tasks but there’s little evidence of regular, constructed catch ups to facilitate personal brand building.

I work with smart people, some have MBAs, but I’ve noticed that many see the world of work as a list of tasks, getting them ticked off and are ‘too busy to take time out to chat’. While they may be experts at creating coloured-coded spreadsheets and automated excel lists to track productivity, which on the face of it looks very impressive, it comes at a price; that price being the lack of interaction with colleagues and deep-meaningful relationships.

We’re hiding behind our lists and emails, and Teams chats in the name of productivity. We seem to have forgotten the importance of having a conversation, why relationships are important to a long-term career and nurturing those connections.

But why does this matter and what can it do for you?

Relationship building is important because:

§  it helps to build your reputation in the business and people’s trust in you

§  your contacts can open doors and provide potential opportunities if you’re front of mind

§  the people who matter will speak about you when you’re not in the room in a positive, supportive way and one day the right person will be within ear-shot

§  people notice your value add to the business if you let them know what you are about – this not only helps with potential opportunities, but ultimately it means you’re well thought of when it comes to promotion and compensation conversations

§  you have someone to bounce ideas off, like an unofficial mentor

§  it enables you to get to understand what’s going on in the wider business – and people who are plugged into the business go further!

§  the right relationships will help you to achieve your goals.

What does it actually mean?

It’s quite simple: come up with a stakeholder list and an outreach plan. Create the colour-coded list but use it to strategically think about who’s important to you, allowing you to stay on track and hopefully motivate you to get together with that person and have a face-to-face conversation.

Think about how that person could help you, but also what you could offer in return. How could this be a mutually beneficial relationship?

There are a couple of levels to consider:

§  create relationships with your peer group and people in departments you work with

§  create relationships with more senior members of your organisation, where appropriate

§  meet people from across the wider business, perhaps through company resource groups or volunteering.

With whom should you be building relationships?

Here are some examples:

§  People in your organisation – including peers and people more senior than you

§  People who are different to you - this avoids sitting in an echo chamber

§  Influential people inside your company - for example people who are experts in their fields such as ESG, AI etc

§  People outside of your organisation but within your industry

§  People who work in the same profession but within different industries

All my introverts out there, I know this probably fills you with dread. As a fellow introvert this hasn’t (and isn’t) always easy but baby steps will help you build up your confidence. Start slow and start with people you know will be receptive to your outreach.

I was working on my personal SWOT earlier this year with my mentor and it dawned on me that one of my key attributes is my ability to build relationships. I never realised this about myself before because I have always been labelled ‘shy and quiet’. But, I love meeting new people and have persistently and strategically made sure to build relationships with key people as it helps in so many ways. It’s a muscle I have had to build over the years and it has certainly paid off in 2024!

I know it can for you too! Go on, give it a try or why not ask your mentor on your next catch up to help you put your plan together?