Relationship building is a key skill for personal and professional success, but it can also be challenging and time-consuming. How can you decide which activities to prioritize and which ones to skip or delegate? In this article, you will learn how to use decision-making skills to plan, evaluate, and execute your relationship-building activities.
Before you engage in any relationship-building activity, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Do you want to strengthen your existing connections, expand your network, or both? Do you want to build trust, rapport, or collaboration? Do you want to learn something new, share your expertise, or solve a problem? By defining your goals, you can narrow down your options and focus on the activities that align with them.
Proritizing relationship building using decision-making skills is a strategic and thoughtful process. It involves identifying key relationships, setting clear goals, managing your time and resources, and making choices about how to communicate, build trust, and handle conflicts. By integrating decision-making skills into your relationship-building efforts, you can foster deeper, more meaningful connections and create a network of individuals who support your personal and professional growth.
To grow authentic relationships, setting specific goals may not be the ideal approach. Instead focus on interactions that are mutually beneficial, consider the value you bring to the relationship. The most valuable relationships evolve over extended periods of time. Goals can change, by identifying what you have to offer, you can create a long term connection.
You have to be intentional in all of your relationships. So have clear in your mind what you want to go by building a relationship with someone. Is it to get a new ally? A friend? Or maybe a connection in management to get a promotion? Whatever your main goal, always have the answer to these questions.
Another factor that influences your decision-making is the availability of your resources. These include your time, energy, money, and skills. You need to be realistic about how much you can invest in each activity and what kind of return you can expect. For example, if you have a tight deadline, you might want to postpone a long lunch with a potential client and opt for a quick phone call instead. If you have a limited budget, you might want to skip a pricey conference and join a free online community instead.
Evaluating the tangible and intangible assets at your disposal is a critical step in prioritizing relationship-building. When you conduct a thorough assessment of these resources, you'll be better equipped to allocate these resources efficiently and effectively in your relationship-building efforts in the organization. And this will ensure that you're making the most out of what you have to achieve your business development goals
In the spirit of building authentic relationships, establish clear and transparent boundaries. The reciprocity in business or personal connections, can't always be measured immediately. A pragmatic approach can create balance.
Isn't bad to postpone something. But is terrible just ghosting and go. To create a great relationship it is necessary to be clear and transparent with your stakeholders, this means postponing a meeting, a lunch, or even participation in a party due to some budget issue or another more urgent situation.
Once you have identified your goals and assessed your resources, you can prioritize your activities based on their urgency and importance. A useful tool for this is the Eisenhower matrix, which divides tasks into four categories: do, decide, delegate, and delete. Do the tasks that are both urgent and important, such as responding to a customer complaint or meeting a mentor. Decide when to do the tasks that are important but not urgent, such as sending a thank-you note or attending a webinar. Delegate the tasks that are urgent but not important, such as scheduling a meeting or updating a spreadsheet. Delete the tasks that are neither urgent nor important, such as checking social media or browsing the web.
Prioritization is a key to build a strong relationship. Using the Eisenhower and RACI matrix to have a clear path about what you need to do and who needs to be updated constantly will show organization and remove the feeling of being with all of the world on your shoulder.
The final step is to execute your activities according to your priorities. This means following through on your commitments, delivering quality work, and communicating effectively. It also means being flexible and adaptable, as your goals and resources may change over time. You may need to adjust your plans, reschedule your appointments, or cancel your engagements. The key is to keep your relationship-building objectives in mind and make decisions that support them.
The simple answer for prioritizing relationship-building activities using decision-making skills is to set short & long term goals and plan accordingly. Then prioritize, be flexible and keep the positive vibes flowing because you can always count on things changing.
You have a create plan, mapped and with clear outcomes. Now it is time to execute, fulfilling your previous agreements by delivering exactly or above what was promise.
After you execute your activities, you need to evaluate your results and measure your progress. You can use various methods to do this, such as feedback, surveys, testimonials, referrals, or analytics. You can also use your own intuition and emotions to gauge how well you are building relationships. The purpose of evaluation is to identify what works and what doesn't, and to learn from your successes and failures. You can use this information to improve your decision-making skills and optimize your relationship-building activities.
What did you do good? What did you do wrong? Why this result was positive? Why not? Always try to understand the outcomes achieved, good or not, to have feedback on yourself and your job and how could you improve it.
This particular article does not align well with developing authentic relationships. It is lacking any focus on the profound human connections that can be created and maintained in business interactions.