Change Your Character – Working on Challenging Relationships

Part 3 of delegating relationship issues to advice columnists in the Change Your Character exercise, has them providing thoughts on improving challenging and strained relationships. For each piece of personal relationship fixing advice, brainstorm three ways you can apply the advice to mending problematic business relationships.

• Own up to your responsibility. Don’t judge the other person.
• Don’t procrastinate – start the reconciliation process right away & work on it daily.
• Don’t be an idiot and do something you’ll regret later.
• Call on a higher power for help.
• Make your intentions clear to each other.
• Communicate - ask questions, listen, and seek to understand what’s wrong in the relationship.
• (Re)establish trust.
• Suggest several solutions that address both parties’ needs.
• Be prepared to renegotiate the relationship structure.
• Be prepared for uncomfortable moments.
• Give the other person the space they may need.
• Keep busy – don’t veg out.
• Set up a schedule to communicate.

Along with the previous posts on building and maintaining relationships, you should have a full complement of ideas that you can consider for strengthening business relationships!

Check out a compilation of "Change Your Character" creative thinking exercises and information on its use.  – Mike Brown

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