12.1
THE RELATIONSHIP BANK:
MAINTAINING WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
Inspired by Stephen Covey and Roger and Rebecca Merrill.Like it or not, organizations are inherently political systems, and the all-powerful informal
organization is a product of many networks of relationships. While it’s essential to treat all
coworkers and customers with dignity and respect, you won’t have time to invest heavily in
every possible relationship within your organization. That’s why it is important that you main-
tain and develop your working relationships strategically—with individuals and groups that
you must rely on to get your work done. However, without ongoing effort, relationships tend
to go stale over time. Thus, if you ignore your key relationships, sooner or later you may find
that everything you do takes longer, requires more effort, and yields lower results. This is just
a basic fact of organizational life!
The metaphor of a relationship bank gives new meaning to the terms trust accountand bal-
ance sheet.For example, if you make a few deposits in a relationship by being understanding,
flexible, open, supportive, reliable, considerate, listening, and so on, then it won’t hurt quite
as much when you make a withdrawal. A withdrawal could be deliberate, for example, chal-
lenging or confronting; or it could be inadvertent, such as forgetting to follow through on a
promise. But without having a balance on deposit, a withdrawal puts the relationship into the
red (i.e., a negative balance).
SECTION 12 TOOLS FORLEADINGRELATIONSHIPS 363
✔ Seeking to understand others
✔ Keeping your promises
✔ Clarifying and meeting another person’s expectations
✔ Demonstrating loyalty to someone even when the
person is not present
✔ Apologizing for a mistake
✔ Being open to receiving and acting on
feedbackExamples of relationship
withdrawals
Examples of relationship (Like deposits, you will notice that
deposits withdrawals also come in various sizes.)✘ Demanding to be understood
✘ Failing to follow through on a promise
✘ Unkindnesses, discourtesies
✘ Failing to meet someone’s expectations
✘ Dishonesty, conceit, arrogance
✘ Rejecting feedback or failing to thank someone for
feedback