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3 Ways To Build Work Relationships To Be Very Effective & Influential · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: The people that are very influential and very good at their jobs don't always work the hardest.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: They don't always have the best answers, but they nearly always have the strongest work relationships with the widest range of people.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Move into management, and relationships are one of the most important enablers to your success.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Have great work relationships and you'll get a lot more done in less time.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: You'll get a lot more help and get that help a lot quicker than peers.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: You will experience a lot less resistance to your ideas and less delays to implementing your requests.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: The best workers and managers turn strong work relationships into higher personal and team performance.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: This in turn wins them more rewards than peers and faster career progression.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was promoted 13 times all the way up to board director level in a large company.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: My work relationships enabled and supported those promotions.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'll quickly cover the best ways to build work relationships to boost your effectiveness.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly all roles rely on others, your colleagues, bosses, team members, and suppliers.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Without their help or output, chances are you would not be able to do your job at all or not nearly as well.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Most roles are interdependent.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because we rely on others, this brings into play all the complications of dealing with people and their interests, pressures, prejudices, assumptions, dislikes, etc.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Just imagine the difference between dealing with a person that doesn't know you, or worse, doesn't like you, compared to a person who likes you and owes you a few favors.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Great professional relationships reduce your barriers and speed up how quickly you and your team can complete work.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Good work relationships give you help ahead of others that they don't know or don't like.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Good work relationships get you resources quicker.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: People who like you and owe you favours will work harder, make sure they meet your deadlines and do a better job than those that they don't know or don't like.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: All of this means that you get a lot more done in less time.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: You and your team perform better.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Better performance means more personal rewards and faster career progression.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Invest the time to build work relationships to be very effective in your job.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Next, I'll cover how to be very influential through work relationships.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Building productive professional relationships is not just about being nice and pleasant to work with.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is not just about being friendly and going through the no-like trust journey.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is a very good starting point.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: To create real influence, I think you need to help the other person be better at their job and to help them achieve their goals.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Do this and you can then ask them for favours and they'll feel obliged to help you.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: After all, why would they want to give up your help when you've been so useful to them?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Help them first so you can get their help in return.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is reciprocity and action, and one of the best ways to build work relationships that create influence.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: You can then use your influence to build more influence.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: For example, you could call in a favour from one colleague to provide help to another colleague.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Both colleagues will be grateful to you as a result, which creates more influence.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: I learnt early in my career that becoming a go-to person to get things done within a company builds a lot of influence and extends your relationships to people you would not normally deal with.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I got promoted 13 times in as many years, in part from learning how to use influence to help colleagues around me and to improve my effectiveness and that of my team.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: This created a lot of good professional relationships throughout the business.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Build and use influence to help others be better at their jobs and be more successful.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: They will give you a lot more influence in return.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides resources, courses, and coaching for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: For leaders to improve your work relationships and learn how to build influence and impact within organizations, do visit enhanced.training and select coaching to take a look at how our coaching programs will help you build influence and personal effectiveness a lot quicker.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Here are three of the best ways to build great work relationships.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: One of the best ways to build work relationships is to help people be successful and feel good about how you help them.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Some great ways to do this include firstly help remove obstacles, for example, knowledge or permission or resources and getting help from others.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, provide help, advice, coaching and resources to help them be more successful.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Third, create visibility opportunities for them.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: For example, presentations and meetings or involving them in projects.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Help them be successful in the limelight.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, introduce them to influential people or stakeholders they need to be successful.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, celebrate their wins publicly and sing their praises when they are not in the room.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Be a partner to their success.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Ensure they are more successful because of your actions or help, and they in turn will be loyally supportive of you and think very highly of you.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: The second way to build great work relationships is to build high levels of trust through all the small moments, consistently, week in, week out.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Big, showy, one-off gestures rarely build anywhere near the same levels of trust that lots of much smaller gestures, actions, decisions and events do when you consistently do them over time.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Being consistent is very important.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Some practical actions to take.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, be clear and consistent with what you expect from them.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, demonstrate that your word can be trusted, i.e.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: do what you say.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Third, treat them and those that they know fairly and reasonably, i.e.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: you treat everyone in the same fair way.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, praise good actions, decisions, behaviors and results.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Give genuine and deserved praise regularly in private and in public.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Give credit where it's due.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, admit your own mistakes quickly and honestly.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And sixth, always do your best to follow through on promises.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: You should be able to think of lots more little ways that you can demonstrate that you value and respect the other person.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Put these into practice every single day.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of the ways to build work relationships quickly.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: The third way to build great work relationships is to create psychological safety through genuine listening.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: The most effective managers and professionals are usually those that are the most effective listeners.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Making the time to listen shows you care about the other person.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're putting them before you when you listen.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Listening increases their respect of you, their gratitude towards you, and also encourages them to speak more and with greater openness and honesty.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Your influence and effectiveness grows when people feel safe sharing their problems and their ideas and solutions with you.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: As a result, the number of solutions to problems balloons, which increases the quality of the solution that you can implement.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Think how that helps you over time.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: To listen better to colleagues, take these actions.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Firstly, maintain attentive eye contact and attentive facial expressions and body language when they are talking.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, keep your mouth shut until they have finished speaking.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Don't interrupt pauses.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Third, listen to understand what they are thinking and feeling rather than listening to spot moments in which you can start speaking again.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, use summaries and paraphrases to demonstrate that you have listened and understood them.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, thank people for raising concerns and take action where appropriate.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sixth, use the good ideas and solutions that are provided to you and give credit where it is due.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Use listening to improve and deepen your understanding and trust you have with colleagues, which in turn will strengthen and deepen your relationships with them.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, I just want to touch on two of the biggest relationship mistakes managers make so that you can avoid them.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: The first big relationship mistake is to try to build a relationship when you need something.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is too late at this point.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Make the time to think about and list out all the people you'll need help and support from to do your job well.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Start building relationships with them from day one.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Then, when you need their help, support, etc., they will willingly give it because you have made consistent deposits in the relationship bank account, if you like, between the two of you.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: When you try to build relationships when you want something, you have nothing to draw against, so you rarely get the help you need or get it when you really need it.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Always put the time and effort into building and maintaining relationships before you need anything.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: I can guarantee that you'll need them at some point.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: The second big relationship mistake managers make is only putting time and effort into building upwards relationships.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is foolish and short-sighted.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Relationships with those below you and with your peers matter just as much as those with above you.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: For very different reasons.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Relationships with those above you help with career advancement, influence the work you do, etc.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: The relationships you hold with those below you and at your level impact your ability to do your job.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is just as important to your career prospects.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, the smart senior people thinking about who to promote will ask those more junior than you how much they like working with you, etc.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Look after all your relationships, below, at peer level and above.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: They are all important and valuable to you and your success.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, relationships are hugely important to your personal success, regardless of what job you do.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Go into the management ranks and relationships are your job.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: The better your relationships and the more carefully you use them, the greater the level of influence you'll have within your organization and the more effective you'll be at your job.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: These are both going to help you be a lot more successful on a personal level.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on three ways to build work relationships to be very effective and influential, do email me at support at enhance.training and I will get back to you.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.