It’s so much easier to resolve conflict and collaborate with people who you trust. That’s why strong relationships are one of your greatest assets at work.
8 responses to Strong Working Relationships
Michael Toebesays:
Again, more quality insight, Richard.
The more fertile the ground we create for difficult conversations, the greater the likelihood of “bearing fruit.”
Definitely worth the investment, even if one chooses to look at it selfishly.
You got it, Michael, and thanks. I really like that in important ways, the line is blurry between working to meet our own interests, and working to meet our counterpart’s, between “selfishness” and “altruism.” More on this in a future post! Be well.
I couldn’t agree more that cultivating a strong relationship creates the right conditions to weather conflict that arises. I’m coaching a team who sometimes must deliver difficult or unwelcome news to its longstanding clients — always tricky when the team member delivering the news is new, or when the contact at the client receiving the news is new, and that critical trusted relationship has not yet been established. Thank you for closing with the sweet photo of your daughter in the garden. It reminded me that maintaining the fertile soil of connection and trust with our children helps with inevitable parenting conflicts that arise, too.
Thanks for writing, Jane. Yes, having a strong working relationship makes it much easier (though not easy) to engage in difficult conversations. And not having a good relationship, well, then it’s harder.
I also agree with you about the importance of healthy connections with our own kids. It all starts there. At the risk of going too far afield, are you familiar with the work of Lloyd de Mause, one of the founders of Psychohistory? It’s fascinating stuff. He asserts that the manner in which parents raise their children becomes the “blueprint for the way public and political life unfolds in any nation.”
According to psychohistorians like de Mause, for example, the French and American Revolutions occurred at least in part because of the progressive approach to child rearing practiced by the parents of the individuals who waged those revolutions. Similarly, one reason Hitler found a receptive audience for his sadism and anti-Semitism was because his German contemporaries had been traumatized by their parents’ extremely oppressive approach to child rearing.
Again, more quality insight, Richard.
The more fertile the ground we create for difficult conversations, the greater the likelihood of “bearing fruit.”
Definitely worth the investment, even if one chooses to look at it selfishly.
You got it, Michael, and thanks. I really like that in important ways, the line is blurry between working to meet our own interests, and working to meet our counterpart’s, between “selfishness” and “altruism.” More on this in a future post! Be well.
Love the metaphor, Richard!
Thanks, Ben.
I have to tell you that short video was just what I needed to hear! Thank you.
Wonderful, Anna. So glad it was useful.
I couldn’t agree more that cultivating a strong relationship creates the right conditions to weather conflict that arises. I’m coaching a team who sometimes must deliver difficult or unwelcome news to its longstanding clients — always tricky when the team member delivering the news is new, or when the contact at the client receiving the news is new, and that critical trusted relationship has not yet been established. Thank you for closing with the sweet photo of your daughter in the garden. It reminded me that maintaining the fertile soil of connection and trust with our children helps with inevitable parenting conflicts that arise, too.
Thanks for writing, Jane. Yes, having a strong working relationship makes it much easier (though not easy) to engage in difficult conversations. And not having a good relationship, well, then it’s harder.
I also agree with you about the importance of healthy connections with our own kids. It all starts there. At the risk of going too far afield, are you familiar with the work of Lloyd de Mause, one of the founders of Psychohistory? It’s fascinating stuff. He asserts that the manner in which parents raise their children becomes the “blueprint for the way public and political life unfolds in any nation.”
According to psychohistorians like de Mause, for example, the French and American Revolutions occurred at least in part because of the progressive approach to child rearing practiced by the parents of the individuals who waged those revolutions. Similarly, one reason Hitler found a receptive audience for his sadism and anti-Semitism was because his German contemporaries had been traumatized by their parents’ extremely oppressive approach to child rearing.
Thanks again for reaching out.