Over the last two success blogs we have been focusing on our current state relationships, who they are, and the relative impact each of our connections have. With limited time available to invest in each of our connections, it is important to create a relationship development plan that enhances our sphere of influence impact and better leverages the most important commodity, your time!

Look at your completed sphere of influence and relationship types. What percentage, as a whole, are transient? What percent are transactional? And what percent are authentic? Now look to your “Critical 20%”, the connections you identified that produce 80% of your productive value. These critical 20% are where you can take immediate action and put a connection plan in place to move any transient or transactional relationship into a more authentic relationship by investing in and cultivating it. Here is a solid framework to use in your relationship planning.  Start with relationship CARE – Clarity, Alignment, Resources and Enablement.

• Define success for the connection or relationship.
• What is your role in achieving that success?
• What do you expect or need from the other participant(s) for a successful relationship?

• How do the other participants define relationship success?
• What do they need from you to assist in that success?
• Mutually define roles and expectations to ensure connection success.

• What other people, processes, or technology do you need to enable and sustain the success for the relationship?

• Summarize your personal actions and behaviors you know you will need to ensure relationship success.
• Commit to holding yourself accountable to doing what it takes for this relationship to grow and remain authentic.
• Don't forget to reward success and milestones along the way!

You have all the tools needed and a framework to lead any relationship going forward. Don’t let a relationship 'just happen' or drift, it takes a plan and an investment up front. If you will do this periodically for all your connections, your valuable time will be focused and your overall value and impact much greater. 

Get started today leading your relationships and move from communicating with 'bits and bytes' to building and cultivating true authentic and more effective transactional relationships. 

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 enabling success by developing a dynamic and customized pathway to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.