How to Build Strong Work Relationships

How to Build Strong Work Relationships

In Atomic Habits, James Clear writes that behavior change happens when you build on existing habits, make change in small increments so it’s easy to do, leverage a system, and make the behaviors part of your identity. The actions to build strong relationships with work colleagues are habits. Here are ways you can build your relationship-building habits at work.  

Build on existing habits

• Make a meaningful connection. You’re already meeting with someone, so take advantage of that time together to spend a few minutes learning about the other person. No extra time needed; shift your attention and intention to connect. By showing sincere interest, they’ll remember how you made them feel in a positive light.

Make change in small increments

• Ask how you can help them. This flips the interaction from what you want to how you can be a resource for them. They’ll appreciate the gesture, you get to learn something about what’s on their mind, and it opens opportunities to follow up. 

• Send a quick follow up note, with appreciation for their time and a reflection or resource related to your conversation. It shows you heard them. 

Create a system for staying connected

• Track the date of your last meeting and put a reminder on your calendar to follow up. Take notes in a way you can easily access, so that when it’s time to follow up you can quickly refresh on what you talked about and continue the conversation. 

• Schedule time. Pat Romboletti, author of Bulletproof Your Career, recommends dedicating one hour every Friday morning to sending updates and reconnect notes to your network. 

Make relationship-building part of your identity

• Relationship building is about providing value and expecting nothing immediate in return. It becomes who you are when you are excited to share updates about a project a colleague is working on, trends in their industry, or connected to something their favorite hobby. Building relationships this way, you are:

• A connector

• A trusted partner

• Someone who cares about other people, and 

• The person they’ll go to for insights on their challenges. 

What is one action you will take today to foster your relationship-building habits?

To learn more about effective relationship building, check out the Twelve Skills brief Expanding Relationship Building. 

Serious about improving your skills? Get the companion guide to the Twelve Skills book the Twelve Skills Expanding Relationship Building Workbook. It will help you put these ideas into practice and boost your relationships. And best of all, IT’S FREE! 

Get your own complimentary copy here.

The ABC’s of Executive Presence

Have you ever wondered what makes a business executive look like, well, an executive? If you’ve given it any thought, you’ve likely noticed a few things about top leaders that stand out. First, they look the part, meaning, whatever environment they’re operating in—from the basement of a tech start up to the C-suite in a FORTUNE 100 corporate office—they present a visual image that says “I’m a leader here”. Next, they carry themselves with a certain air of confidence and swagger. People conclude they’re in charge because they act like they are. Lastly, they speak with authority, expressing a self-assured demeanor as they do. If these three things resonate with you, you’ve picked up on the important cues senior managers often transmit. Now let’s take a quick tour of the ABC’s of executive presence, exploring each one in turn.

1. Appearance is how you present yourself in the workplace in terms of dress, grooming, and posture. It’s true standards of dress have changed over the past few years thanks to the remote work revolution, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a dress code where you work; every place has them—formal or informal. Regardless of your environment, it’s essential you take the time to understand how you’re showing up looks-wise at work—your success depends on it. If everyone in your athletic apparel company wears hooded sweatshirts, jeans and trendy sneakers in the office, showing up in a button down shirt and a blazer sends the unmistakable message that you don’t understand “how we do things around here”. Whether you’re trying to fit in or thoughtfully stand out, you need to demonstrate you know the rules of the game when it comes to dress code and grooming.

2. Boldness shows calm, courage, and confidence in the face of challenging situations and the ability to speak honestly and directly even when you’re feeling uncomfortable. One of the characteristics that we value in leaders is confidence. It give people the feeling that no matter what happens, the challenges we’re facing or opportunities we’re exploring will work out favorably—and should the not for some reason, we’ll still be okay. As leadership author Peter Bregman points out in his Harvard Business Review of the same name, “Great leaders are confident, connected, committed, and courageous.” All of these embody the boldness we want, even seek, in our leaders.

3. Communication relates to how we express our ideas when speaking or presenting. As far as leadership effectiveness is concerned, communication is one of the most important skills to be developed. Seasoned executives radiate presence when they speak, projecting their voice clearly with words that are easy to understand. In terms of message delivery, professionals don’t use filler words like ‘um’ and ‘you know’. They’re also thoughtful regarding the pace and tone of their speech so they can reinforce important messages. Some of the best known politicians were former actors and their aplomb delivering messages became hallmarks of their time in office.

There you have it: The ABC’s of executive presence—Appearance, Boldness, and Communication. You need to check your appearance, making sure you fit in before you try to stand out, consider how bold your physical presence is, and review your patterns of communication. Together these three components of executive presence engender confidence and inspiration in colleagues. Sprucing up any one of the three areas will improve how you’re perceived as a leader and quite possibly your overall effectiveness too.

If you’d like to learn more about executive presence, check out the Twelve Skills brief Enhancing Executive Presence.

Serious about improving your skills? Get the companion guide to the Twelve Skills book the Twelve Skills Executive Presence Workbook. Packed with thought provoking activities, hands on exercises, and bonus material, it’s a proven way to boost your knowhow. Best of all, IT’S FREE! 

Get your own complimentary copy here.

Tools to Get Started with Strategic Thinking

If you’re reading this post you probably agree strategic thinking is an essential leadership skill. We at Twelve Skills concur. But it begs the question, “If it’s so important, why don’t more people do it?” There’s a few reasons we’ve come across in our work that are often offered to explain the malaise:

• No time—“I just don’t have time to”

• No direction—“No one told me to”

• No idea—”I don’t know where to start”

Unfortunately, if you really want to get better at strategic thinking you’ll need to:

• Find the time—you have more time than you think

• Seize the initiative—great leaders make things happen on their own

• Engage in skill building—because everyone can improve

Here are a few ideas on how to jumpstart strategic thinking for yourself and, as importantly, for your team:

• Understand your context with PESTLE Analysis: Work with your team to define the context you work in. What key factors are shaping your competitive environment? Where might change drivers be coming from? Use the PESTEL analysis to explore your Political, Economic, Societal, Technological, Legal, and Environmental variables. See if the industry analysts agree with you by comparing your work to published analyst reports.

• Explore future trends with the Time Cone: Brainstorm the impact of trends from your PESTLE analysis using the Time Cone. Consider what might happen over the short, medium, an long-term horizons. Try to picture, as tangibly as possible, what different futures might look like. And don’t be afraid to look outside your competitive arena to detect potential disruptors or inflection points beyond your normal periphery.

• Set up Futurist Discussion Groups: Nature abhors a vacuum, so don’t work in a one. Gather your team to discuss and share what you’re learning together. Prepare for group work by engaging with sources such as pod casts, think tanks, and analyst reports. Facilitate robust dialogue about future trends and what you could be doing now to prepare for their impact.

These are great strategic thinking starting points for any individual. If you’re a team leader or Learning & Development manager, these can especially be powerful tools to help develop talent—and engage senior leaders on topic they’re concerned about. No matter your role, strategic thinking is everyone’s job.

If you’d like to access tools like the Time Cone for yourself or your team, get the companion guide to the Twelve Skills book the Twelve Skills Strategic Thinking Workbook. Packed with thought provoking activities, hands on exercises, and bonus material, it’s a proven way to boost your knowhow. Best of all, IT’S FREE! 

Get your own complimentary copy here. 

Welcome to the Twelve Skills Blog

If you’re landing here for the first time, welcome! We’re grateful you’re taking time to explore the Twelve Skills world. We created Twelve Skills based on our work with dozens of organizations, scores of managers, and hundreds of students over the past 20 years. Over our careers, we observed a specific set of skills that people need to develop to advance into roles of of greater responsibility. While technical abilities are essential early on in careers, its the skill related to leading people that matter when it comes to moving up.

We tested our historical observations by looking at leadership development programs produced by top tier consulting and human capital firms. We didn’t stop there. We examined a range of business publications that highlighted the skill leaders need to succeed. Or findings led to the development of the six areas and twelve skills found in our ‘dartboard’.

To summarize, as managers climb the corporate ladder, they need to master strategy and its correlate results. They also need to build high performing teams that develop talent. And while the world outside evolves, they must be able to communicate effectively to drive change. Within each of these areas are two specific skills constitute the bulk of what leaders must be able to do as they become more senior.

To ensure we brought the best, most useful thinking to Twelve Skill readers (and users!), we selected content from one of the best known and trusted sources in business research over the past 100 years—Harvard Business Publishing (HBP). As strategy consultants, executive coaches, and Ivy League educators, we’ve not only used—but in some cases helped create—ideas that have shaped how management is practiced today. Twelve Skills provides a concise, curated, and actionable set of tools aimed at helping anyone who practices them become recognized as an effective leader in their role and, as importantly, someone who is ready for greater responsibility.

With that said, take a look around the Twelve Skills site. You’ll find free resources that include a book chapter, a short assessment, links to related videos and articles, downloadable ‘cheat sheets’, a quick start guide and best of all, a comprehensive (and complementary!) workbook anyone can use to improve their skills, their team, and even their entire organization. We also have a Twelve Skills Linked In group—join and connect with like minded colleagues who are traveling on similar development journeys.

Thank you again visiting our blog. Check our Linked In group or this spot for reading and reach out if you have questions or would like any thoughts on how to get the most out of The Twelve Skills!

Laura and Ed