Relationships play into our success in every arena of life. From personal relationships with family and friends to professional relationships with work colleagues and clients. Every day you interact with people. Relationships are how we interact, how we find ourselves and our value, and it’s worth the time and effort to be intentional about building strong relationships.
Avoid Sacrificing One Relationship for Another
All too commonly, we hear stories of an up-and-coming executive or entrepreneur who is doing the daily grind to advance themselves in the company or grow their business. This person is laser-focused on climbing the ladder which means they often place work before personal relationships. Unfortunately, this person who used to be invited to many social gatherings with friends has declined so many times because of professional projects that they are no longer being invited anywhere, by anyone.
Similar can be experienced by those in professional relationships who fail to nurture connections with clients and colleagues to the point that when someone is seeking a specific service or industry expert and, you do this service or are this expert, your name doesn’t come up in the conversation because you’ve been out of touch for so long. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Finding Relationship Balance
Better balance can be found when you consider these five things:
- Priorities. Commit to investing your time intentionally. This may include setting healthy boundaries.
- Reconnecting. Make time to rekindle relationships around what’s going on in your heart verses what the chaos of the day has been. Professionally, touch-base with clients and colleagues to see how you can work with them to reach their goals and milestones.
- Opening Up. Instead of allowing things to build up and fester, open up and talk about it when it happens. Think through the timing and circumstances of conversations. If someone’s had a stressful day they make take something much differently than if their day were happy and normal.
- Focus. Avoid multi-tasking when it’s time for conversation. Put down the devices and be present with those you’re face-to-face with. Give each other your full attention. If someone asks to get together and it doesn’t suit, suggest another time which works for everyone.
- Intentional Interactions. When there’s a conflict for connections and something needs to be rearranged before doing the rescheduling ask each other what their priorities are. You may find that what you thought was important to the other person isn’t as important and they will tell you. Make a mutual decision so your interactions serve you both.
- Tenacity. Don’t give up. Stick with the healthy relationships that are serving you because they are worth it. Let go of what’s no longer working or meeting your needs. You won’t always see instance results but give things enough time before tossing in the towel and moving on.
If putting these things in place to find better relationship balance feels too big, break it down into smaller actionable pieces. Need help? Reach out to me to schedule a 1:1 consulting session and we’ll work up an achievable plan you can confidently follow.