Your ability to manage relationships, both in your personal and business life, are critically important. Relationship management is defined as those processes that organizations and individuals use in order to maintain the connections they have with each other.
While organizations focus more on maintaining relationships with their customers, individuals spend more time managing relationships with other individuals. For large organizations, relationship management can be highly complex, as they must keep track of a large number of customers and clients.
On a personal level, you can improve your relationship management skills by taking the time to enhance your EQ, or emotional quotient. EQ is directly related to EI, which is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence involves your ability to handle your feelings, as well as deal with the feelings of others. There is a critical connection between EI and relationship management.
Those who have high EQs tend to be individuals who are very good when it comes to relationship management. When their friends or family members come to them with a problem, they are very empathetic. They are easy to talk to, and they are skilled at making others feel comfortable around them. These individuals tend to build strong relationships quickly, whether it is personal or business. These relationships tend to last for a long period of time.
One key factor which is crucially related to relationship management is our ability to listen. Too many people today are so self centered that they pay more attention to their own thoughts and feelings than those of others. When you do not listen to what others have to say, they tend to become very frustrated with you.
They will typically see you as being a selfish person, and it will be hard for you to maintain a strong bond with them. The first step towards developing relationship management is to become an effective listener. Once you begin listening to what others have to say, you will be rewarded by stronger relationships.
Managing Professional Relationships
Professional relationships can be more tricky than personal relationships, but some would argue that the opposite is true. Increasing your personal relationship will require you to be very punctual. You must also remained composed, and avoid losing your cool at all costs.
Maintaining strong professional relationships will often require you to develop an optimistic outlook on life. Instead of seeing the glass as being half empty, you should see it as being half full. People naturally gravitate towards optimists, but they tend to steer clear of those who are pessimists. To improve you relationship management on a professional level, learn the importance of being tactful.
While being blunt can be valuable in the business world, those who are overly blunt tend to offend a lot of people, and they do it within a short period of time. If you disagree with something that another person has said, it is better to use a tactful approach as opposed to being blunt.
Another powerful tool that can allow you to increase your relationship management skill is to learn how to read body language. Studies have shown consistently that humans say more with their bodies than they do with their mouths. Being able to read the body language of the people you interact with can bring great rewards to your life.
Relationship Management and Body Language
There are a number of great books that have been written on the subject of body language, and you will want to read them carefully. Reading the body language of those you interact with can almost allow you to read their minds, and you can interpret it in a way that will allow you to make wise decisions as opposed to foolish ones.
Relationship management means that you must learn how to interact with people, and you should want to do this in a positive way as opposed to a negative one. Additionally, learning to control your emotions is one of the most important aspect of relationship management, and though it is difficult, this skill comes with practice.
