In my workshops and training sessions over the last 20+ years on improving customer and workplace relationships I have found that there are 50 key ingredients that play a major factor in everything from employee engagement, leadership and team building to customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and sales.
To establish excellent customer and workplace relationships and connections, you need to continually work on your communication skills, interpersonal relationships, people skills, emotional intelligence and presentation skills.
In fact in the organizations I work with as a speaker, trainer, facilitator and coach I find that over 90% of the problems are a result of poor communication and people skills.
Here is a checklist to remind and reinforce the message of what is important to success. This is from the book, “Get Along with Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere” by Arnold Sanow and Sandra Strauss.
- Make people your passion
- Be a Conscious Connector in building positive relationships
- Boost good feelings in others
- Communicate with care
- Engage the interest of others by focusing on what interests them
- Approach each interaction with positive intent
- Take the initiative to reach out to others first
- Project a positive presence
- Be attentive
- Express empathy
- Build trust; mean what you say, and say what you mean
- Adapt how you communicate to best serve what others need
- Act in ways that make people feel valued
- Give feedback tactfully and receive it willingly
- Create a sense of safety and openness
- Mend misunderstandings
- Keep an open mind
- Seek to understand how others see a situation
- Acknowledge and honor the feelings of others
- Monitor and master your emotions
- Hear people out
- Drop any need to “be right”
- Let go of grudges
- Greet people with a smile
- Open your heart when it closes
- Seek peace when others don’t
- Be responsive to what others want or need
- Respect differences
- Let words of caring and kindness work their magic
- Don’t take anyone for granted
- Thank people for their help, their time, their service, their thoughtfulness, their caring, and their support
- Act as a catalyst to help others get what they want
- Praise positive behaviors
- Energize the winning spirit
- Make the right choices to create the desired outcomes
- Give people credit for their ideas
- Express a dazzling attitude, even when it’s difficult
- Resolve conflicts with diplomacy
- Build bridges that join; remove walls that separate
- Release negative labels (of yourself and others)
- Speak your truth
- Accept responsibility; avoid playing the blame game
- Forgive others (and yourself) for flubs, faux pas, and foibles
- Light the way with laughter
- Project a cooperative spirit
- Express enthusiasm
- Encourage the expression of gifts, talents, and personal excellence
- Model the behaviors you want others to express
- Handle every connection with care and keep them in good repair
- Be interested, not just interesting
