Using Critical Thinking to Build Better Business Relationships
How better decision making leads to success in the workplace.
One thing that has really emerged for me recently is the fact that better business relationships breakdown a ridiculous amount of innovative and efficiency barriers. To add, the benefits of reduced mental stress is an undervalued bonus.
Now, you might think, “Yes, Michael, you get along, so you collaborate.” It’s not that simple.
Authentic relationship building requires commitment to the other party that you are listening (doesn’t mean you have to agree) to their input and contributions. Further, not just listening, but genuinely absorbing the information to make it part of your decision making process. To sum it up, no lip service, no office politics.
Building Authentic Credit
This might hurt. Do you think people want to work with you or tolerate working with you?
When people genuinely want to work with you, it means that you have developed credibility. Some say, “I closed this large deal, that’s my credibility.” My answer is, see chart below. The credibility people seek are based on your ability to listen to them, to share in thought, and letting them know that they are heard. This is when the willingness to collaborate starts to yield a tremendous motivating force to benefit the company overall.
So….Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment. Meaning you cannot form judgement or an opinion before analysis and evaluation. These days we tend to forget that.
Proper critical thinking skills are polished for proper execution. When you apply reasoning to business interactions, you will develop a better relationship not based on judgement. If you need a little help, there are some firms out there dedicated to this. As well as plenty of free sources if you Google it. However, topics like this involve accountability and honest feedback. It would be good to align with a mentor or someone who can give it to you straight.
See this image below that sums up the differences and apply these points to a business relationship in your life that is top of mind. When you engage with this person about a process improvement, are you self-preserving? Are you cutting them off and pushing your point? Or, are you driven by the company’s overall benefit and allowing input and rational thought to work it’s way into the dialogue?
Barriers Broken, Success Realized
Now that the relationships are stronger (or mended), conceptualize what will be less difficult. With the process improvement referenced earlier, you now have a better relationship with the programmer that has to re-prioritize their workflows. How about the operational/client delivery/administrative teams that have to re-train on this new process? The list of impacts can go on and be compounded. These efforts would be sluggish and full of roadblocks to the point where the concept may be dropped all together if you had not spent the time using critical thinking to develop these relationships.
Tangent, not tangent
We know the benefits of reduced mental stress. If not for the company, if not for an empathetic effort for your colleagues, do it for yourself.