Nourish Relationships - Did I facilitate face-to-face meetings?
Technology is wonderful; it allows us to reap the benefits of saved travel time and costs, and increase productivity, because our colleagues do not have to spend endless hours in airport departure lounges. But we as human beings need to remember the importance of meeting face-to-face. We have already touched on how the more sensitive the communication, the less technology should be involved in its delivery. The same can be said about nurturing relationships. Email is fine for summarizing; conference calls allow us to squeeze more meetings into our days; but you must remember that you need to not just nurture relationships, but also facilitate them. To do this effectively, ideally it would be in a face-to-face meeting. Even if you are just walking in, staying for the introductory handshakes, and leaving the participants to meet face-to-face, that interaction can add value to a relationship that thousands of emails simply cannot match. This is also true of your team; make sure you set aside some face time for each of your team members, monthly if not weekly. Make it clear to them that it is their time to abuse or skip as they see fit, but make sure they know they are important to you - important enough to carve out time to be present with them and discuss whatever is on their minds. How much would it really cost you to give your staff thirty minutes each of face time once a week? Cannot possibly be done? What about over a breakfast, coffee or a lunch? Do you both enjoy running? Get creative; fit it in; and you will start to see the relationship blossom.
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