Work Relationships

You can enjoy successful, productive and satisfying work relationships using the fundamentals of Carl Rogers’ theory of human relations and his counseling approach.

Shortly before Rogers' death, the American Psychological Association deemed him the psychologist of the twentieth century. His ideas inspired people in every walk of life, and instructed professional helpers around the world in the most effective ways of serving people.

No matter what you want to accomplish, you will need the support and cooperation of others to do it. Whether you want to:

-- lead, direct or supervise people

-- find a new job

-- increase your income or wealth

-- increase your level of happiness or peace of mind

-- expand your spiritual awareness

-- improve athletic performance

Good work relationships provide the foundation for success in any career. Knowing the right people and building successful relationships will be of paramount importance.

Relationships with colleagues, mentors, coaches and supervisors will be paramount to your success. The ideas and techniques of Carl Rogers will help you to command great respect from others and gain key friendships and liaisons.

Not only must you know people, but you must keep your presence before them. This involves networking in such a way as to maintain your relationships with your valuable customers or potential customers, allies and referral sources . . . assuming you want to count on their help and support in the future.

The power of any network depends upon the quality of one’s relationships with the persons who are listed in the address book. Imagine this scenario: Let's say you haven’t spoken with someone in months or years. Then one day you need his help. You call him only to find out he has moved, or he is no longer in the same business and is not interested in your services.

He or she may no longer place the same degree of faith in you, and cannot support you now . . .

     because you let the relationship go. You have allowed yourself to drop off his radar screen. He probably feels you didn't place importance upon the relationship.

Heated Workplace DiscussionOffice Relationships Can Make or Break You

Work Relationships: Three Keys to Success

This article will show you how you can keep yourself in the minds of your customers, contacts or other important relationships. It’ll explain how to use Roger’s three helping fundamentals to improve and strengthen your important work relationships. Rogers argued that an effective helper should employ three qualities in forming successful relationships:

  • Empathy would allow her to build trust with the person, and allow the counselor to show that he truly cared about the person.
  • Congruence involved being genuine and real with the client, being one’s authentic self, and not playing games or using tricks or gimmicks.
  • Unconditional Positive Regard to the person expresses sincere caring and concern, and non-judgmental acceptance of her. It demonstrates that the helper will not reject or forsake the person for any reason.

What possibilities might emerge if you treated everyone in your life according to the three principles?

  • You’d be a popular and well respected individual.
  • You'd develop many rewarding and successful relationships.
  • You'd perform real leadership.
  • And you’d multiply your value to the people you know.
  • You’d get their respect and admiration, and valuable support whenever you needed it.

Yes, you’d get plenty of backing for your initiatives and projects. People would be there for you because they are familiar with you, they believe in you, and you are always there for them. It seems so simple, but many forget to do it.

The Magic is In the Application:
Make Your  Work-Related Relationships the Best They Can Be 

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Most of us are familiar with these concepts today, yet my experience in consulting with management pros and companies large and small is that many leaders have forgotten how to apply these simple, but powerful concepts to their daily work.

But in Rogers’ time, they were novel, breakthrough ideas. Although we are familiar with concepts, we do not necessarily apply them to our work relationships.

We can apply these ideas to all our relationships, if we have the wisdom to set aside a little time to apply them to a variety of situations, and to improve the quality of success of a state-of-the-art networking plan.

Building Great Work Relationships is Exciting

Sometimes it takes great courage to be honest and real with someone we’re just getting to know. It takes a sincere desire to want a rich, fulfilling work relationship with someone. We need to be able to give someone our empathy and support, especially if we don’t have much in common with them. We want to build ever more successful relationships on the foundation of unconditional positive regard.

Yet, it is so rewarding and exciting to form a new relationship or convert a mere stranger into a powerful ally.

They say Will Rogers, the great comedian, never met a stranger. It is a great pleasure to get to know people, form a positive connection and to adventure forth to see what possibilities the future may hold. 

Real possibility thinking about what good things could come from a new working relationships can lead to discoveries of potentially rewarding endeavors.

Successful people give positive regard and high quality service to everyone. Giving and caring is a key component of providing genuine leadership through our relationships. There is no better way of providing leadership and keeping your relationships strong than the Carl Rogers approach. What an investment in your future success and happiness.

All that you give others will come back to you tenfold, in time.

Your Ultimate Relationship Solution

Click on the image above to find out more about our eBook that reveals how you can apply the Ultimate Relationship Solution to your work relationships or other kinds of relationships, and discover true and lasting success in all areas of your life.

JOIN our eZine and get weekly articles on topics, such as, how to solve relationship problems, affair-proof your marriage, or overcome depression, anxiety and loneliness.

Go back to Types of Relationships page from Work Relationships

Read another article on work relationships by Richard Hamon here.

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