RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT – AS IT RELATES TO OUR EVERYDAY LIFE
In Business, Relationship Management (RM) is defined as one of the many different approaches that allows a company manage and analyse its own interactions with its past, current and potential customers.
Simply put, it is the use of data analysis about customers’ history with the company to improve business relationships with customers, specifically focusing on customer retention and ultimately driving sales growth.
What we don’t realise is that relationship management transcends the corporate environment as we constantly and unintentionally apply it in our everyday life and interactions. From the time we wake up in the morning, observe our quiet time, engage in small talk with our immediate family while we prepare to set out, commute to work or school, attend meeting, conferences and lectures, hang out with our colleagues and friends after work hours; we continually engage in relationship management to ensure all our daily interactions (social and official) yield favourable and positive feedback.
The importance of effective relationship management can’t be overemphasized in our everyday life and engagements. relationship management is more or less an innate skill set everybody possesses by virtue of being human. However, harnessing and sharpening this skill in both our social and work life, requires the application and mastery of SIX major principles:
- Developing others:Sensing others’ personal development needs and supporting their unique strengths.
- Inspirational leadership: Motivating and guiding individuals and groups.
- Change catalyst: Identifying/initiating areas of improvement or change.
- Influence: Persuading others (Note: not in ways of manipulation).
- Conflict management: Settling disagreements or misunderstandings.
- Teamwork and collaboration: Working with multiple people toward a common goal; creating an effective and productive team environment.
In addition, in order to develop, inspire, or influence others, we first need to be able to identify how they’re feeling (social awareness); but before we can do that, we have to be able to manage our own feelings (self-management); and before all that, we have to be able to identify how we’re feeling and why (self-awareness). Once these feelings are mastered, you can better assess how to interact with the people around you, and achieve the best outcomes in your different relationships — which is what relationship management is all about!
In conclusion, it is important to note is that “management” is not the same as “manipulation.” Effective relationship management is focused towards influencing people so they can pursue the best version of themselves.
Prepared by Adeola John Waji