Page 126 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

WHOM DO I TRAVEL WITH? (RELATIONSHIPS AND TEAMS [TH]AT WORK)

It is quite another to get along while designing a new Web
page, coordinating efforts to clean up an oil spill, or ham-
mering out the details of a merger. What are the keys to
getting along while getting things done?
Historically, folk wisdom, family role models, and reli-
gious teachings have been humanity’s primary sources of
information about what makes relationships survive and
thrive. In recent years, researchers have made relationships
a scientific agenda, complete with video cameras, statistical
analyses, and brain imaging techniques to help us under-
stand the nitty-gritty of how people interact. We’ve sampled
that literature with a simple question in mind: What are the
most important skills that grease the skids of human connec-
tion? We looked for fundamentals, but fundamentals with
a punch—with proven results, solid research, and sensible
theory to back them up. We wanted the essential skills that
will allow someone to play the relationship game with a rea-
sonable chance of success, both so relationships can thrive
and so work can get accomplished.
We’ve grouped our findings into five learnable skill sets
that seem to capture much of what it takes to promote genu-
ine connection. As individuals develop these skills, leaders
emulate them, teams adopt them, and organizations fos-
ter them, the magic fairy dust of human connection can
increasingly sprinkle down on the practical world of work.
These five skill sets are:

1. Make and respond to bids
2. Listen and self-disclose
3. Navigate proximity
4. Resolve conflict
5. Make amends

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