Building And Maintaining Healthy Business Relationships

In today's knowledge and service economy, it's generally accepted that relationships are key; the state of your relationships with business partners, staff, clients or customers, suppliers and others in your stakeholder group defines the success or failure of your business.

Combining the two concepts of health and relationship might result in a definition of a healthy business relationship as one in which two or more parties relate to each other in a way that provides for the well-being and satisfaction of both. How is this state achieved and maintained? I spoke with several colleagues who I consider great relationship builders, and they offered the following:

• In the best relationships, each party is at least equally attentive to what he or she can give in the relationship as to what he or she can receive. One woman, who is the CEO of a very successful business, always asks what she can do to assist someone when she is establishing a new relationship. She believes