Create Rockin’ Relationships in Business

Some people have high standards when it comes to who they hire, partner with and accept as a client. The rest of the world wants something better for themselves but think they have to tolerate whoever enters their space. What if rockstar business relationships were only a perspective away? And of course, they are. Knowing what makes up the ideal person to fill each role in your business is critical. When you see a need in your business for help, whip out your note pad and write down all the characteristics and actions that your perfect person would have and do. When you say yes to welcoming someone on board, be picky as hell. Be willing to hold out until you feel in your gut they are the ‘one’. Just like marriages and dating, the ones who seem ideal in the beginning can turn out to be wrong as you move forward together. Before you kick them to the curb, I suggest you take one of the foundational pieces of The Co-Active® Model from The Coaches Training Institute to heart and master it. “People are Naturally Creative, Resourceful and Whole.” Try that perspective on for a month or two as you move through your workday and your whole world is going to change. One of my clients is a top-level executive for a large company. Recently, his entire team was eliminated. He got a nice severance package and is highly sought after in his industry, so while it’s still shocking to him to no longer be employed there, I helped him focus on what a HUGE opportunity this is to get an even more ideal position. However, there was much guilt clouding his positive outlook when he thought of his team. What were they going to do? They had all recently moved across the country to support their leader and now they were left out to dry in the wind. I reminded Gary that his team was totally capable of sourcing exactly what they want moving forward. He had not done this to them, it was a co-created experience. Each person attracted this experience based on their desires and emotional focus, whether they were aware of it or not. If Gary held each member of his team as creative, resourceful and whole, he wouldn’t feel responsible for having to come up with all of the answers or assume that they were terrified. At his next team meeting, he checked in with them looking through his new perspective. The feedback was transformational for him. They were thrilled that he cared and expressed their appreciation. Now he can take that perspective a step farther. He can assist them in finding their next step not by networking on their behalf for a new job but by asking open-ended questions that have them tap into their own brilliance and come up with their next perfect steps. Seeing your clients and customers as naturally creative, resourceful and whole means they are now collaborating with you. Even if you’re supposed to be the expert, there is much to gain when you include them in the journey of getting from Point A to Point B. Many times my clients outdo me tenfold with their solutions. Sitting in the silence can evoke huge transformation. If I do all the talking, I just train them to depend on me to figure it all out. If you don’t see everyone you work with as a rockstar, you’re working wayyyyyyy to hard. You will end doing your job and theirs. You will expect them to be less brilliant than they are and your expectation will be fulfilled every time. Play to win vs. playing not to lose. Expect the best, look for the best, focus on the best parts of a person and you will experience more of the best.