Ways to Nourish your Relationships
Have you ever wanted to build a relationship with someone who inspires you? How about establishing a rapport with a future client or business partner? Whether it’s a personal relationship or professional; all successful relationships are nurtured in the same fashion.
In today’s society, we have social media friends, colleagues from work, and deeper personal relationships. Therefore we have many different ways of creating a connection with people. With our social media relationships, we may exclude individual vulnerabilities. Whereas with personal relationships we’re more comfortable to address those vulnerabilities. Regardless, when deciding to establish a connection with a new friend, mentor, and or business partner, you must remember these key things:
Always understand the purpose of the relationship.
Never take advantage.
GROW the relationship.
Always understand the purpose of the Relationship
With my personal experience, I Have built relationships out of social media where I have made deeper longer connections. Most of those relationships are from like-minded women who share the same vision in their work. But beware just like anywhere in the world there is going to be weird people and awkward moments that you must ignore just like you do it in real life.
To not waste the precious time of the person you desire to create a relationship with (or your own time for that matter) it’s always good to have a clear understanding of the project that you are planning to work on, and why the partnership is beneficial for both parties. Understanding the purpose of the relationship helps you build more authentic and long-lasting foundation.
Never take advantage
How do you feel when you are being used, or takes advantage of your time and kindness? In any relationship, when a person begins to feel used they are going to be turned off. They’re going to run out of the relationship; quick fast and in a hurry! Understand that although you wish to gain something for yourself from a relationship, you must take consideration of the other person. You should always think “how can you show appreciation?”, “what can you do for them?”, or even “what do they want to gain from this relationship?” By being aware of the other person’s needs, you will find a way to contributing and establish a “Two-way” relationship. After all, it takes two to tango and creates magic!
GROW the relationship
To grow a relationship and assure that both parties flourish, I have learned a few things over the years. As a mentor, I have learned that the best relationships were the ones where I was inspired by my mentee! I was able to teach my mentee and grow more in my journey. Finding ways to offer inspiration will always grow any relationship.
As a mentee, I learned to grow my relationship with my mentors by always showing my appreciation. My mentors gave me so much support and encouragement. I felt it was my duty to let them know their precious impact on my life. In every situation, I wanted to make sure that my appreciation was expressed in some form or facet. When my mentors knew of my appreciation, they began to offer me more support in my journey. We have used every opportunity to show our appreciation for the relationships that we build. We can nourish any relationship when both parties enjoy being in one!
