Relationship Management

By Tom Fedro

I don’t understand why, but far too many businesses fail to take into account the importance of relationships. Relationships with employees, vendors, customers, and others determine the success or failure of an organization. It’s amazing to me that many tech companies in particular fail to adequately consider the impacts of their relationships and the value that is earned or lost by them.

Your primary job is not to write code or data sheets. Your primary job is not to create products or presentations. Your primary job in management is developing and maintaining relationships with everyone along your production and delivery system. You can’t let these items go. A great many brilliant technological advancements never see a market because an understanding of the importance of human relationships was missing. Take the time to recognize what your distributors and your clients hold most dear. Don’t try to convince them of your product’s value without first understanding what it is that is most important to them. Work at this, and you’ll find that your sales and production efforts will begin to streamline.

I’ve often had friends ask me “How can you get employees to believe they have a say?” I always give the obvious answer, “Give them a say” and mean it by taking concrete action. Determining how to value relationships in your business is the same. Recognize that the relationships are more than just valuable – THEY ARE your business. Once this is clear you’ll ultimately find your policies, goals, and activities aligning themselves according to that principle. Above all, never forget that business is ultimately about people, even when you spend your day working on software and hardware. The human element is the element that pays for the company’s existence, and you forget about it at your peril and at the peril of your company.

How are you doing? How are the relationships in your business? What are you going to change?