The relationship ecosystem

I believe that relationships stand at the center of our identities and our lives.?Everything is built on relationships:?our closest interaction with people and loved ones, our interaction with colleagues, but also our interaction with the gardener or the shopkeeper.?There are lots of ideas and concepts that are discussed regarding relationships, but I recently had an idea about the essence of this key aspect of our lives that I want to share.??

When discussing our interaction with others words like "unselfish", "caring", "loving" and "nurturing" are frequently used.?All of these are true, but if we take the word "nurturing" and apply it to the growing of plants, there is something very interesting that jumps to the front.?When we grow plants we place them in a nursery.?This is an ecosystem that we create to make sure that the plants grow and develop in the best possible way.?This means that the ecosystem for an apple tree and that of a cactus will be different. The apple tree needs warm summers with cold winters and enough rain.?The cactus cannot function in such an environment and needs hot dry weather with occasional bursts or rain.

Based on this example, I therefore want to suggest that relationships are all about creating an ecosystem for the other person to optimally grow.?I am an engineer and my wife is a musician, artist and craft-person in general.?I realized that the core of my relationship with her is to create an environment where she can give expression and where I show support and appreciation for her expression of herself.?She needs someone to listen, enjoy beauty with her, become excited with her over the things that are created and expressed and water her personality by generally supporting her in growing and expanding the ecosystem around her.

The same is true for my children.?The one that is an artist needs an ecosystem where she can grow.?The intellectual one needs an environment where she can reason and debate and grow her mental skills, but fundamentally both of them need the ecosystem of safety and appreciation and support where they can feel appreciated and empowered to just be.

But, this is after all LinkedIn, a professional interaction platform... What about your colleague??Why can you not create an ecosystem for him or her??An ecosystem where they can discuss, reason, debate, express doubt or tell lousy jokes??Why can you not create a cradle of growth for your young colleague where that person can feel safe to ask questions that will grow their understanding... or create a cradle of acceptance for your senior colleague where they can dump their many years of experience.?Will the junior colleague?not feel safe and grow and will your senior colleague not feel appreciated and grow ever further?

But, what about you, Mr CEO??Should you company not also reflect an ecosystem that is aimed at the development and growth of every person in the building??Should you not have individual interaction with the members of your team to the extent where you know whether they are a tropical flower or a hardwood tree??Should you not focus on the development of a culture where every person focusses on creating an individual ecosystem for every other person they have interaction with??...an ecosystem where they can optimally grow?

Our lives are built on relationships.?It does not matter whether we interact with the shopkeeper, the CEO, the gardener, my lovely wife, my friend of 30 years or my closest colleague.?I may just make the biggest impact on their lives when I focus on creating their optimal growth ecosystem.?Perhaps this is the definition of love, care, unselfishness and, ultimately, nurturing... It may be that our companies and our lives start to blossom and produce massive crops it we simply ask the person next to us "How does your ideal ecosystem look?"