relationships Archives - Capacity Building Solutions

Our Relationships End Up Being Tested When They’re Under Pressure

When everything is going smoothly, maintaining good professional relationships becomes effortless. Celebrating successes, engaging in small talk during breaks, and collaborating harmoniously on projects become relatively easy. However, when the environment changes—when there’s a significant challenge to our business model or external factors exert immense pressure—that’s when we see the true character of the relationships we’ve built.

Daily Leadership Thought #128 – Establish Healthy Boundaries, Then Be Disciplined About It

Most of this unhappiness, conflict and stress I see in the workplace and life these days comes down to an inability to establish healthy boundaries. By their very nature boundaries define us and indicate what are willing and not willing to tolerate. They are also a means to carve out what is important to us. Without boundaries you are simply making it up as you go along and dealing with life reactively without a compass.

The Effects of Personal Relationships on Leaders – Full Interview w/ Ed Robinson, Leadership Expert

Ultimately, the dialogue emphasizes that intentionality in addressing both personal and professional life aids in maintaining relationships and enhances overall leadership effectiveness, encouraging proactive engagement and connection within intimate relationships

Conversation Avoidance Is A Professional Defect

I am regularly surprised by the lack of conversational courage in professional circles these days. Not every conversation ends up with a positive outcome. Occasionally, you must deliver disappointing information. You may even have to let someone go or terminate their employment. You may need to inform a vendor that you’ve decided to work with someone else. All of this is part of doing business. Every relationship eventually hits a bump in the road. The sooner you address it, the higher the likelihood you will fix it or ensure it ends well.

Things Can Unravel Quickly

Things can unravel quickly. This is an unfortunate reality of life. Friendships built over a lifetime, partnerships forged through sustained effort, and families who spent a lifetime loving one another are more fragile than we think. Let’s not let what divides us become more powerful than what unites us. Let’s sometimes agree to disagree. Let’s also agree that there are no bad emotions. Emotions are part of human life. However, there are bad actions based on those emotions. Regulating personal behavior is a responsibility of adulthood. Let’s also make sure we look in the mirror before we look out the window and point at others.

Leadership Thought #267 – Happiness Comes From Within

Life can be a roller coaster at times. There will be highs and there will be lows. The important thing is not to overreact or think that everything has to be perfect all the time. Perspective is important. There is no silver bullet. There is nothing you can buy or pill you can take that will make you happy for any extended period.

Leadership Thought #478 – When Technology Tools Can Become A Liability

The right technology can make an enormous difference, but it needs to be put in the proper perspective. I remember when cell phones were a

Quotations from Ralph Waldo Emerson

I felt like doing something different with this blog. I am a huge fan of the literary works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and was recently revisiting and discussing his essay on friendship as part of a class I am teaching. I’ve always believed that a life is defined by the quality of one’s relationships. We all want the same thing: some level of connectedness with other individuals that that both allows and encourages us to live the best life we can. While at its very beginning and final end, life may be a solo journey, the rest of it is full of human interaction. Our level of happiness during the balance of our existence is most often dictated by how we navigate the dense forest of interpersonal relationships. As usual, Emerson is much more eloquent than I am on this topic and here are a few excerpts from the essay:

Leadership Thought #450 – Spend Your Time Wisely

I have always liked the idea as viewing your time similar to currency. You get to decide how you spend it and what types if investments you make. Sadly, just like with our money, many of us make bad or misinformed decisions. Time is finite. There will be a time when it grows short and then disappears. Our children will only live with us a relatively brief time before they grow up and move away to begin their own lives. People we care about will run out of time and all that will remain will be the memories we made with them while they were still here. Our career will follow a natural arc and eventually our lives will be less about what we do for a living (despite our past accomplishments) and we will need to redefine ourselves. Knowing this, what can and should we do differently. I believe it all starts with priorities.

Leadership Thought #446 – Focus on The Conversation Not The Distractions

I spend a majority of my work life in meetings or one on one conversations. It never ceases to amaze me the different attitudes people have about basic communication and meeting etiquette. We’ve all read countless article about the importance of “being present” and minimizing distractions, but I’m not sure the message is sticking. Moreover, I haven’t seen one article that supports the premise that multi-tasking makes you more effective as a leader. In fact, it is quite the contrary.