Newsletter: Turning round our thoughts

 “It’s not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Don’t worry, we are not getting over political or gung-ho this issue. Instead, we are using the end of the year for a period of reflection.

 A recent email from a participant on a course mentioned that, as a result of the training, they had decided to change their approach to a business relationship.  They went out of their way to offer help to a difficult line manager rather than adopt their usual tactic of ‘leaving them to it because they were such a difficult person to work for’.  The payback was huge. The manager was very grateful, completely opened up and now relations are much better. A quick route to success rather than allowing simmering resentment to fester.

Although we concede that simmering resentment is all some people deserve ...

Perhaps it is just human nature, be it with a client, colleague or supplier …..  it is very easy to focus on what we are owed. Certainly work pressure forces us to think automatically of what we need to get the job done rather than what others need. Yet we all know that business relationships work best when they follow the concept of putting the other party first. “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood.” (Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)”

Although we must agree, the main problem with business relationships is that the other party simply doesn't take the time to understand where we are coming from ...

So let’s try the tougher thing and think about what we can do for our colleagues, rather than worry about what is done for us (stop us if this it getting too much like ‘Thought for the Day’).  Is there an area where a colleague needs to be helped out? Even if they are not part of an ideal business relationship?  If we have to work for people or we are saddled with certain suppliers or clients, the easiest way to get more from them is to put more in.  So over the next few weeks, with our more difficult business relationships, maybe we should try to respond to these two questions:

1) What have we done for them lately? 

2) What could we do to make things better for them, that could also help us nicely at the same time?

Try it.  It might just turn around a difficult business relationship.

And you never know, Secret Santa might even get to hear of it…

As for the italics above? Hope you forgive our tongue in cheek look at how we actually feel about such people, well we have to be honest with ourselves don't we? :)



Mark Miller is Director of Goodfoot., click here for further details