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Reflecting upon my 14 year wedding anniversary last week, I recognized there are some parallels between maintaining a marriage, a friendship or a business relationship. Solid, long-lasting partnerships don't happen on their own - they need to be nurtured. Such things as loyalty, communication and desire are important aspects to any relationship but here I'll talk about how they pertain to our business lives. Trust: Trust comes from knowing those around us are being honest in what they say and what they do. As a business person, we must trust our business partner, our employees, and our clients. Furthermore, the trust needs to be mutual so that everyone can perform their obligations each day to their best abilities. Loyalty: Being loyal to our professional connections creates a solid bond. If we consistently subcontract to the same person or buy from the same vender, it is an on-going demonstration of our faith in their abilities. Consequently, as a result they may offer us better deals or rates than their averge customer and refer us to others. Communication: We must be able to openly communicate about responsibilities, touchy issues and the occasional emergency or disagreement when they arise. Communication encompasses asking questions or for help when needed and respectfully answering other people's questions. Communication also means returning phone calls and replying to email in a timely manner. Teamwork: When employees, managers and owners in our offices or businesses get along, everyone who enters our environment will be well aware of it. Camaraderie ultimately leads to everything going smoothly. Customers and venders will be more confident in their business dealings with us because they'll know we're all working toward a common goal. Compromise: Sometimes not everyone agrees to the best course of action in a particular situation, so being able to negotiate and compromise allows for a workable solution. Everyone can be happy with the outcome. Desire: There needs to be a mutual desire to continue and maintain the relationship by everyone involved. No relationship will survive if only one person is working on it. These are just a few examples of principles that not only must be utilized to maintain a successful marriage vow, but also a long-term friendship or business relationship. Take a few minutes to review your relationships and determine which ones are being properly sustained or not, then review the above list of attributes. They may be simple, but they are very powerful. Authored by Kimberly J. McCloskey, Virtual Business Professional, 10/24/2009. Kimberly publishes the newsletter "Productive Pointers" featuring articles on how to improve personal and professional efficiency. Request your subscription at http://kimberlymccloskey.wordpress.com.
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