Beyond Bits and Bytes: Making Your Connections Personal
re·la·tion·ship (noun)
The way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected.
In today’s complex and ever-changing world, the pace at which we now have to keep provides easy barriers and excuses to establishing and cultivating relationships. It is now easier to communicate in real-time than ever before and it is even easier to mistake real-time communication for meaningful relationships.
We may be connected by bits and bytes, but unfortunately, we are losing the art of the personal connection. To effectively lead and influence where you are, we must get back to developing, cultivating, and investing in authentic, personal relationships each day.
We know not all relationships are created equally so not every interaction will be an investment in authenticity. However, it is important to develop the awareness and skill set to identify those interactions that require proactive investment and those which are more transient and transactional in nature and impact because with limited time we can’t invest the same time and effort in every relationship.
Only 20% of your relationships account for 80% of your impact!
In fact, if you look at a day or week in your professional life, on average 80% of your impact and value, both contributing to and gaining from, comes from only 20% of your relationships and interactions you engage with. That is right, only 20% of your relationships account for the overwhelming percentage of your personal effectiveness and impact! That is why it is imperative to constantly know where and how to plan our relationship cultivating efforts.
Next week we will begin our relationship leadership efforts by defining the 3 key relationship types we each encounter: transient, transactional, and authentic.
Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in developing a dynamic and customized blue print to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.
