An organization’s working relationships are what holds the business together. From the relationship between the employees, to that between the employees and the end customer, these relationships can make the difference between a business succeeding and a business failing. To be effective, an organisational needs to create a culture, systems and relationships that work together for the benefit of all stakeholders.
In leadership, the most important aspect of a good leader is their willingness to make all team members aware that maintaining highest-quality working relationships is vital. In this article, we look at the different components that go into organizational effectiveness and how they work to create a better environment for everyone involved.
Maintaining High Standards of Personal Behaviour
In order to be trusted by colleagues and stakeholders, leaders need to set an example of high standards of personal behavior. They must behave ethically, honestly, genuinely, so that they can inspire others to act accordingly with similar values and guiding principles. This is especially important when there is difficult information or makes unpopular decisions to share. Leaders should hold themselves accountable by communicating clearly and compassionately with their employees so that no one comes away feeling that their leader isn’t acting honorably or putting profits ahead of people.
By maintaining high standards of personal behavior, individuals within a business can ensure that they always work to the highest possible ethical and moral standards. Behaving ethically, with integrity and fairness, and by showing respect for other people’s views we can ensure our actions are always in keeping with this high standard.
As well as ensuring that all relevant people and stakeholders are kept fully informed throughout a project and keeping colleagues up-to-date on our progress and achievements we need to seek positive relationships based upon mutual trust at all times.
Corrective procedures should be done diplomatically so that feedback about any mistakes or failures will not result in defensiveness but instead be taken constructively. This ensures that everyone is onboard with continuous improvement and not taking the corrective measures personally.
Establishing Supportive Communication Systems
The foundation of any relationship is communication. When good communication is in place, it’s only natural that the individuals in the relationship can trust one another. It is that trust that helps build positive relationships.
Positive relationships and good communication are essential to the success of a company. Nothing can work without the right systems and approaches in place for communication from day one. Without them, it’s hard to get everyone on board with your plans, ideas will get lost in translation, and people might think that they’re not being treated fairly. We all know how important it is to have the right structures in place from the start of a project because you won’t survive long-term if there isn’t cohesion among team members.
All companies struggle with communication between staff members at some time. That’s why it’s important to always be looking for ways to improve; otherwise business will never run smoothly. To address this, begin by setting clear goals for everyone. Make sure that all staff take part in a comprehensive training programme on how to improve their ability to communicate on both on a personal and team level. Set up a system that encourages cooperation and collaboration internally as well as externally.
As a team lead, one of the important roles you play is that of communicator, ensuring informal channels are open at every reachable level so good ideas are shared, vital information can spread faster, problems can be identified earlier and departmental leaders are always in touch with what everyone is doing.
This means that you have to create open lines of trust between yourself, upper management and all other departments including yours, which often involves taking the time for regular face-to-face meetings with all key personnel whenever possible.
Establishing a supportive communication system means setting up strategies that encourage team members to communicate with one another in a productive manner. Promoting collaboration and cooperation between internal and external individuals involves setting up procedures designed to deliver basic information from point A to point B in a timely manner.
Setting up an information management system to ensure that critical information makes it through the channels of communication can be achieved through many different systems, such as the internet or email, which make things much more efficient for everyone involved. Encouraging consultative and participative decision-making at all levels might include training seminars aimed at educating lower level staff about what’s going on above their pay grade so that they feel empowered to contribute their own ideas when necessary.
Promoting Values and Standards
People who feel like they can trust their leaders are more likely to remain loyal. Make sure the people around you know your values and respect them by implementing policies that seem fair at all levels. Consulting with specialists, colleagues and external partners to help you identify and establish and understand values within your organization.
As an executive it’s important to ensure that all employees as well as day to day partners like suppliers know what these values are. Promote honesty in everything that you do which means not only talking about them but living out the values every day. Be sure to take prompt and visible action when the organizations’ values and standards are not maintained so trust is not lost or allowed to slip.
This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect, just authentic. Anytime something goes wrong, there is an opportunity for reflection because mistakes can be valuable learning experiences. The best case scenario would be for everyone to be growing together so if you see someone slipping up, try to offer guidance. Help them build upon these strengths while improving on any failures they’ve had in order to do better next time.
Good leaders ensure that all outside and internal parties are informed regarding the organization’s values and performance standards. Values and standards inform all development work – tasks, decisions, strategies etc. for individuals as well as teams.
The objective here is to ensure that all working relationships are built upon a common, shared values and standards.
Gaining the Trust of Colleagues
Every relationship with a colleague should be based on trust and respect. Through open and honest consultation and collaboration, we gain each other’s confidences and the respect of our colleagues in strengths and weaknesses. When we honour promises made to colleagues, when we treat each other with courtesy, when we keep confidences, this is when we engender the trustworthiness that every colleague expects from us because mutual trust is key in building strong relationships through personal networking.
In order to gain the trust of colleagues, treat colleagues with respect and give them your full attention during meetings or important conversations. As an employer or team leader, respect their time by sticking to the topic of the meeting and allow them to ask questions if they need more information on a topic. And finally, make sure anyone impacted by any decisions made are aware of all possible outcomes. Include them in the discussion so they understand why such decisions were made.
Support your colleagues when they most need it, and treat them with respect as well as confidentiality. Make sure that any sensitive information shared in confidence is kept that way. I also encourage you to keep your promises made to your colleagues because these are not words you should take lightly.
Gaining the Trust Of External Stakeholders
Trust is everything when setting up your business. To thrive in the modern world, collaborations are key. Through choosing the right external stakeholders for your company, you can save yourself a lot of potential headaches and save reputation-damaging situations arising. People need to be working together so that everyone succeeds.
It is an aim to behave with the stakeholder in a transparent, equitable and constructive manner. In order for a relationship that is mutually beneficial to be successfully achieved, there must be mutual understanding, mutual respect and a desire to develop a relationship that is rewarding to both parties.
As a business executive, it’s important to gain the trust of external stakeholders. It comes down to having an open dialogue so both parties are completely clear about each other’s expectations. Give your external stakeholder partners frequent updates about any agreements made or actions that have been taken.
Honoring commitments made to your business stakeholders, treating them with the utmost respect while also maintaining complete confidentiality. This type of behavior will not only build trust there but give you a reputation as someone worthy of doing business with.
Evaluate Relationship Performance
Relationships take a lot of work. It’s essential to evaluate each one regularly and repair when necessary because without regular checkups, many deteriorate over time. Some will sink into neglect and cause minor problems, while others become problematic and cause major issues like bad debts or customer complaints. The worst part is that these issues can be avoided if we think about how we’re managing them in the first place.
To maintain a healthy relationship, it is important to have a common understanding of what quality means for all partners. This can be achieved by engaging in discussions with staff and stakeholders about the desired performance and expectations of a relationship. It is also important to have periodic review points where the state of relationships are monitored after which appropriate action should be taken if needed if further improvement is desired.
Be alert to changes in the quality of relationships, especially between internal stakeholders within the organisation. Establish criteria for assessing the health of relationships. Establish monitoring procedures to review customer relationships regularly. Review current relationship performance against agreed criteria and take action to maintain or improve performance. Encourage continuous feedback on morale and keep an open mind when addressing problems that are brought forth during internal staff evaluation meetings to ensure all parties are comfortable.
Develop Your Leadership Skills to Develop the Quality of Your Work Relationships
Leaders in an organization can make or break it. For instance, their standards make the difference in the friendly work environment their employees are surrounded by. They need to continuously improve their relationships with internal and external partners, as well as maintain, develop, and find innovative ways of increasing employee performance if they want to keep the business thriving. If the leaders of an organization don’t do these things as important, then it can drastically impact any of its operations or objectives that need to be met.
Similar to maintaining, developing, and continuously improving the quality of the organization’s physical resources, its marketing performance, its financial health, it is also crucial for leaders in an organization to manage their relationships with other internal and external stakeholders. To achieve the goals set out by senior management, those leaders must make sure that all relationships are healthy and productive; this means making sure they’re always looking for ways to improve working conditions for all both internally as well as externally.
The success of the organization depends on the quality of these working relationships. For an organization to achieve operational targets and strategic objectives, it’s important for these cross-functional working relationships to be healthy and productive. Therefore, it is essential that senior managers invest in them and their development to ensure high morale among employees and outside stakeholders.
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