825 Basics - Article - Plant Seeds...Grow Your Relationships

Plant Seeds...Grow Your Relationships

May 2008

Spring is here. Flowers are blooming. Seeds have been planted in the garden. And the grass and weeds have started to grow.

Garden success depends on planting the seeds at the right time, watering regularly, keeping critters away and harvesting when the vegetables are ripe. Do you tend to your relationships in the same way?

Planting the Seeds: Network at meetings and events in order to plant the relationship seed. Having a widespread network of relationships can help if you are seeking a new job or looking for help.

Watering Regularly: Connect with those in your network periodically. If you come across information that can benefit others you know, share it with them. Be a resource for others...give them something that will help them get their job done better.

Keeping Critters Away: Keep distrust, poor ethics and "all take and no give" behavior out of your relationships. Follow through and remain dependable to those with whom you have a relationship.

Harvesting When the Vegetables are Ripe: Give to your relationships and your garden will never stop producing. When you need help, those relationships you have nourished will be there to help you.

Whether you manage a relationship with a mentor, your boss, a peer or a customer, your ability to establish and maintain relationships is crucial to career success.

Relationship building takes work. But the payoff is immeasurable.

Take charge of your relationships and tend to your relationship garden. Set yourself on the path to a healthy, fit and full of energy career.

Cut the Grass. Cut the Relationship.

When the grass gets too high...too unruly...it gets mowed. We pull the weeds and edge along the curb. But what do we do with relationships that get unruly

It is time to modify, limit or sever the relationship when...

Unethical or illegal behavior is involved.
Trust is broken.
The relationship becomes a burden to you or unhealthy for you.

Changing jobs, addressing relationship issues directly with the person involved, or changing your interactions with the person involved are difficult solutions in the workplace. But our career satisfaction often depends on it.

Healthy relationships in the workplace are vital to achieving healthy, fit and full of energy careers. Take charge of your relationships today!

825 Basics Keys to Building Relationships

Have your 10 second introduction ready to go. Be ready to make a connection with someone at any time.

Get involved - volunteer for company or community activities. Relationships are best built in the "off times" - those times outside of the project or away from the deadline. "Off times" can include lunch time, that time right before a meeting starts or right after it ends, or at company or community activities.

Be a resource to others and use your network as a resource. If you can add value to someone else's work or help solve someone else's challenge, you become a resource...and then you gain access to others' resources.

Really get to know others - build the relationship by making real connections that involve trust, reciprocity and genuine caring. It is the personal connection that takes a relationship to the next level...to a place where your career interests and ambitions can be shared and acted upon.

Follow up and follow through. After you meet someone or collect a business card, send the person an email. If you say you are going to do something, do it.

825 Basics Workshops can move you towards preparedness. Find you what you like and what you are good at through the CareerPE™ Workshops. Enhance your networking skills in Counterclockwise Networking: Networking with Direction.