Over the years, one thing continues to surface over and over, becoming so crystal clear that we have acknowledge it as a universal truth – Relationships Matter.

Evidence that supports this truth is everywhere:

• 70% of employees leave managers, but are several times more likely to stay with a company if they feel they have a “best friend” there.
• People would rather endure emotional, mental, physical and financial hardship than to stay in a relationship that is broken, demonstrated by the fact that about half of marriages in the United States now end in divorce.
• Countless books have been written on the topic of relationships, and more specifically, the importance of relationships for leaders. Iconic works, such as Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is perhaps the best example – having been around for decades and selling over 15 million copies.  A close second, Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence, got the world thinking a bit differently about what kind of smarts it took to be successful.

There’s no doubt that husbands, wives, parents, children, coworkers, leaders and therapists all understand that relationships matter.  So what does it take to get good at forming good relationships?

Food For Thought:

What do you think of when you hear the word “re”?  As in “rework”, “rewind”, “redo”, “regress”? Unless it’s your favorite song set to “repeat”, typically these words elicit a groan, and feelings of frustration, anxiety, or wasted time.  So take a look at your RE-lationship.  What is it that you are doing over and over again that is causing similar feelings of discontent for you, or others?

Once you have spent some time reflecting on the current state, an important next step is to determine what would it take to transform your RE-lationship into a REAL-ationship.  Linguistically speaking, we just added an “a”, but that one little letter packs a punch.  It’s bigger and more influential than it looks.

So what’s that “A” all about?  Here’s the answer (and the teaser) all in one:

• Awareness
• Acknowledgement
• Accountability
• Authenticity

Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we describe each “A” in detail, and how you can add a little “a” to your relationships.