Archive

In my last post, I discussed the Kenexa Relationship Rubric. Here’s a simple exercise you can perform to test it and gauge some of your relationships. Make a list of at least five current business relationships that you have. First rank them based on what you think is your strongest to your weakest relationship. Then fill out the answers for each of the questions on the Rubric and score and rank them. Chances are your No. 1 and 2 will be in Tier 1 or 2, and your No. 4 and 5 relationship will be in Tier 3 or 4. If you find that you have a low score, you can always improve the relationship by checking up which question you did not score well and trying to rectify that score by, for exa...

As you look to develop your business relationships through your career, there is a tool that you can use to judge the level of closeness that your relationship is at, and what you can do to enhance it. We call this the Kenexa Relationship Rubric, and this consists of the following set of questions that you can ask yourself with respect to any business relationship. This individual returns my calls within 24 hours. In the last 24 months one of us has granted the other a personal favor. In the last 12 months we have spent one continuous hour talking about non-business related items. In the last 24 months we have spent four hours in the continuous presence ...

In my last post I spoke about relationships and how we try to assess their strength. Business relationships need a different type of yardstick than personal ones. In the world of business, relationships tend to be a temporary meeting of minds where both sides benefit from the arrangement that they have. These relationships occasionally develop into good friendship, but most often tend to last only as long as they offer mutual benefit. As people communicate more and more through electronic media or the telephone, the personal touch is being lost—and nothing can beat the power of meeting in person. It is only through face-to-face meetings that individuals can get close to one another and...

I have been pondering relationships. Humans need relationships—they were not designed to be alone. We all set great store by the associations that we have with people, from family and friends to coworkers to casual acquaintances. And each of these relationships means something different to us. What tends to be common to all is that the performance of the relationship is connected directly to the type of relationship it is, to the strength of the ties that bind us, and the resulting outcome of the equation we share. In other words, performance is a function of relationship and results. The pressures that we experience in many relationships are frequently caused by confusion around comm...

A good way of freeing up time by not having to waste it is to be prepared ahead of time. When our children are small, we teach them the importance of going to bed only after keeping ready the things they need in the morning—their books, homework, clothes, etc. That way, they get to sleep for a little longer in the morning, as they do not have to spend time doing these things then. Similarly, the motto of the Scouts is “Be Prepared”, which translates into always being in a state of readiness to be able to do the right thing at the right time. Fire drills are carried out regularly in schools for the same reason—if you know exactly what to do and how to do it, you will n...