Powerful relationships are the key to effective work environments, and goal attainment. Powerful, healthy relationships are the pulse behind any great endeavor and achievement. It must never be forgotten that every organizational structure, flow chart and arrangement ever conceived, merely represented the relationships which formed these structures. It is said that genius is often found in that which is simple. What can be more simple than treating your people as partners in the creation of business success.

Valuing the contributions of associates is expressed through the following behaviors:

1. Learn the life stories, hopes and dreams of your associates. View them in a total inclusive manner. Acknowledge both the professional and personal aspects of his/her persona.

2. Draw upon the combined experience of your team. Ask the associates questions ,probe them for knowledge in addressing real world business concerns. Think of your team as your organization’s personal think tank. You will find that many of your company’s best ideas will come from your associates.

3. It is not enough to simply listen to your associates, but implementation of their ideas and suggestions is important. Ideas gained through the brainstorming process must be put into practice in order to gain true value. The implementation of associate suggestions shows that you take their intellegence seriously and consider them instrumental in the future success of the organization. Implementation exhibits a sincerity in wanting to get everyone involved in the process. This step, is the first step, in creating a deep sense of ownership within the organization.

4. The final piece to relationship building is accountability. Accountability establishes the value level that a team places upon its existence and performance. Holding associates including yourself, accountable for set behavioral standards, establishes the legitimacy of the team goals and protocol. Holding individuals accountable is not always a pleasant experience; however it is an absolutely critical element, in creating successful teams and successful people.

Regi Adams is a business coach, educator and writer for Bascom & Adams Business Solutions. Regi has conducted his human based approach to professional development within multiple Fortune 500 companies. Regi's philosopy on exceptional business performance is that "all success starts with people". Thus Regi's approach to creating high performance organizations is by creating high performance teams, made up of high performance people.

Information on Bascom & Adams Business Solutions programs and services can be found at http://www.bascomadams.com

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