Building Productive and Harmonious Relationships

Relationships between people, whether of a personal or a business nature, can be very delicate and must be continuously nurtured in order to preserve them. If tended well, they can provide long lasting security and an immense sense of belonging to a group or association.

Effective relationships within an organization are a necessity as wellbeing of the group or organization is reliant upon how well its members can work together and on how well the members of the organization work with management.

An ineffective group or organization can be really frustrating and may ask so much of their members that it impacts on their life outside of the organization. In order to meet deadlines, members may be foregoing their need to interact efficiently with their family members or to meet their own needs for relaxation in other ways. Thus, a group or organization may find that relationships will become stressed or break down. People or other entities who depend on these groups or organization also suffer.

Society is defined as a web of relationships, which requires all parties to work and contribute their share in order to achieve a common goal. Having a relationship that is good, where cooperation and respect are manifested, can make society work better. In this way each member works for the good of the whole and towards achieving a common goal. This can only be attained with effective and efficient relationships.

Understanding how the other party is feeling is important to creating an effective and efficient relationship. The easiest method to understand what is important to another party is to ask them what they want and listen to what they have to say. When the other party realizes that their feelings are important to you, they will be more trusting.

The open expression of feelings and needs by all parties to a relationship is paramount to the continuance of an efficient and effective relationship. Assuming that the other party understands our needs is not a good practice.

Another key factor in a relationship is respect. Respect is the very foundation for a great relationship. To build a productive and harmonious relationship, parties must treat one another with respect. This can be achieved by simply listening to the other party and by genuinely trying to understand how they function. You can also show respect to other parties by confirming that they are doing everything they can.

Differences in the parties can be quite interesting and needs to be tackled directly. These differences may lead to the formation of different perspectives when considering information pertinent to the relationship.

Try to work out a win-win solution for both parties

This can be done when at least one party acknowledges that the relationship is important. That party would then exert more time, effort and energy to understand the other party's needs and deal with it to get it out of the way. Should they fail, it is comforting for that party to know that they tried.

Effective listening and no pre-judging. This is important if parties are to understand each other.

Informal discussions are conducive for parties. They bring out issues and concerns comfortably. They also feel more relaxed making them think more clearly.

Developing an atmosphere where the other party can express their feelings when they need to.

When parties fail to express whatever is on their mind or their feelings, it can get in the way of building an effective relationship.

Parties should be aware that certain things exist naturally but should be controlled in any dealings in any relationship. Human nature is one. Some of these things found in a relationship also include a history of stereotyping or mistrust, blaming the other person or party for a strained relationship, excluding the other party's feelings when focusing on a task, no clear and defined objectives, roles and expectations of each party in a relationship is also unclear.

Relationships are important to anyone, addressing issues and problems right away is a must to further improve the relationship. As they say 'No man is an Island'.

Anne Wolski has worked in the health and welfare industry for more than 30 years. She is the owner of http://www.mummansun.com, a discount retail outlet, and a co-director of http://www.betterhealthshoppe.com which is an information portal with many interesting medical articles. She is also an associate of http://www.timzbiz.com which features many articles on internet marketing and resources.