Working Relationships

Important Australian research

The notion of Relationships has long been thought of as a "touchy feely" matter not appropriate for hard-edge business concerns. However, the fast pace of the business world requires trust, coordination and collaboration, which can only be developed through Conversations and Relationships.

Recent Australia research supports two central elements of the Newfield Conversational Technology™:

• Organisations are networks of Conversations and Relationships.

• The quality of workplace Conversations and Relationships is a key variable in organisational performance.

The research of Dr Daryll Hull and Vivienne Read, of the University of NSW, provides significant findings on the ways an excellent workplace that produces superior business results differs from a merely good workplace. Hull and Read surveyed hundreds of workers at all levels from the CEO to the floorhand to determine the elements that distinguished the excellent from the good. Their research findings are contained in a report "Simply the Best". They concluded the following...

"After assessing the results of our field research and interviews we concluded that quality working relationships represent the central pivot on which excellent workplaces are founded, underpinned by such key variables as good workplace leadership, clear values, having a say and being safe. … In excellent workplaces the existence of mutual trust and respect is overwhelming. We became convinced that central to excellent workplaces is an understanding that to produce quality work in Australia, one must have quality working relationships."

A model to enhance the quality of Working Relationships

Newfield Conversational Technology™ provides a powerful practical means for understanding the essential ingredients of Relationships that can make or break leadership, the functioning of teams and organisational success.

Quality Conversations build quality Relationships. In turn quality Relationships encourage quality Conversations, especially the difficult Conversations that are easy to avoid, and which can be so beneficial.

Leadership and management are fundamentally relational in nature, as leaders and managers get work done through positively influencing others and building commitment and loyalty.

An integral part of the Newfield Conversational Technology™ is a Working Relationships model that diagnoses of the "health" of specific relationships and precise ways to enhance the quality of these relationships. The model is applicable in one-to-one coaching as well as a form of 360º feedback for team building.

Positive Working Relationships are developed through constructive and productive Conversations, which requires intelligence in the appropriate use of language as well as Emotional Intelligence.

* You can read about the University of NSW research in Workplace Relationships (PDF) and The Best Workplaces in Australia (PDF).