Okay, gather around. I want to talk about…relationships. Yes, I know. It’s been a dirty word in corporate circles for a long time. Well…times change.
Watch a child with a Smart Phone for more than a few seconds and you will know beyond any doubt that communications have changed forever. Interconnectedness exists on a level never before witnessed. That child has access to a pool of information and shared ideas that stretches far beyond their circle of close friends.
Interconnected.Communications.Access. These words bring us to one uniting concept; relationships.
Plainly there has always existed a relationship between company and employee. But the nature of that relationship is evolving. Openness, accessibility, authenticity, trust, and transparency are becoming the new norms. Cloud culture (a term borrowed from cloud computing) is based on these concepts and the embracing of the new connectedness that technology has given us. It can be terrifying when viewed from the ‘play your cards close to your chest’ culture that drove the corporate thinking of yesterday.
It doesn’t have to be.
Would it surprise you to know that virtually every major business problem has a relationship based solution? Not hitting your numbers? Let’s dig in to what is causing that bad business outcome? Most of the time there is a relationship fix. Building relationships impacts everything our clients do and is the focus of our recently launched RQ Relationship IntelligenceTM Coaching Program.
It’s been said that we’re taught most of our social skills by the time we’re five years old. After that, we’re pretty much left to our own devices. Even though they’re called social skills, it’s rare that people think of their daily interactions as something requiring expertise. Rarer still that the ways we act, react, and interact are thought of in terms of something we have the power to change.
“The boss picked me out of the crowd, asked me a question. I felt cornered.”
“I know my job really well. I have good ideas, but I don’t like speaking up in meetings.”
“Management is about to make a half million dollar mistake. Should I stick my neck out? Should I say something?”
“How do I promote innovative behaviour and teamwork in my team?”
That’s where RQ Relationship Intelligence comes in. Epiphany coaches help people learn the social skills needed to thrive in today’s cloud culture. We show people how to enjoy and embrace who they really are, even at work. We help them become the people they want to be, to accept themselves completely, and to achieve their goals and goals of the organisation.
And the win-win? Everybody benefits – the employees, the company, the customers.
Real innovation most often comes from within the company, from people who know the business. But how do you access that spirit of innovation, how do you nurture it in your team?
The circle is complete. Connectedness. Communications. Access.
Relationships.
It all starts with something so simple: a conversation.
