The Value of Positive Working Relationships

The people we interact with on a regular basis will have a profound influence on us. They not only affect our attitude toward life, but also our very life experience. That’s why it is so important to take time to evaluate what kind of influence our associates are having on us, and visa versa.

We may think that we are immune to the influence of those around us, but that is simply not true. Perhaps we have convinced ourselves that we can just tune them out and remain unaffected. But the very fact that we recognize the need to resist their influence shows that the influence does exist.

Choice and responsibility

Granted, we can’t always choose whose company we are in. In many cases, such as work or school, we have little if any choice in the matter. But when we do have a choice, it’s an opportunity to enrich our lives on many levels. We can benefit immensely by purposely choosing to interact with those who have a positive and appreciative attitude.

There is also some personal responsibility involved here that we want to be aware of. If we want to keep company with positive, encouraging people, then our contribution to the relationship should also be positive and encouraging. All relationships are a give and take arrangement. Consequently, if we want to be encouraged by others, we should strive to be encouraging to them.

Building positive relationships

Now you may personally interact with dozens of people on a daily basis, so what is it that draws you toward some more than others? Mutual recognition of the give and take principal is what contributes to building closer relationships. When somebody seems to needy or greedy, we become more guarded. When someone does something nice for us, we feel impelled to make it reciprocal.

The beauty of this arrangement is that we can take the initiative. That’s right, we can assume the role of the giver and see what kind of response is generated. I am not suggesting that we give with the expectation of getting something in return. In fact, I am very much in favor of giving without expectation. But giving opens the door to, in fact it invites, mutual exchange.

This works for all types of relationships

Increasingly, people interact through channels other than face to face encounters. These principles apply to every kind of interaction. For me personally, much of my interaction takes place online. Everyday I communicate with people from all over the world. Some of those people are part of my life on a daily basis, and I like to think that those relationships are mutually beneficial.

The real beauty of this arrangement is that we have chosen to grow our relationships because we share similar interests and goals. At the same time, our fields of expertise vary enough that we are able to learn from one another and to contribute to each others growth. These are positive and mutually beneficial relationships. It is a win – win situation that I find very encouraging.

The role of social media

We always hear that social media is built on relationships, but is that really true? At first glance, sites like Twitter and StumbleUpon may just seem like a lot of disconnected noise. But is that all there is to it? Is it really possible to build solid relationships that make a real contribution to your life?

The answer is absolutely yes, and the truth of that fact is the motivation behind this post. I have built a number of these mutually beneficial relationships from these very sources and I wanted to acknowledge a few of them. Actually, I want to acknowledge all of them, but I will only focus on a few that can serve as examples for this discussion.

A typical week online

Here are some of the daily activities that involve some form of interaction with other people online, along with some of the benefits.

1) Commenting on each others blogs. When I contribute a meaningful comment to someone else’s blog post it helps keep the conversation going and increases the value of their article. My comment creates a link back to my blog which brings me new readers.

2) Using twitter or StumbleUpon. Alerting those in my timeline when something worthwhile is posted by a friend brings them traffic. In turn, they are happy to do the same for me.

3) Reading each others articles. Those I interact with create real value and by reading each others articles we learn from one another. This is a progressive group and we like to learn.

4) Asking and answering questions. If we have a technical question or are searching for a resource, chances are that one of us has the answer. This has been very helpful on several occasions.

5) Direct linking. We can write articles and purposely link to something on a friends blog. This serves our readers and the links help in search engine rankings.

A few examples

Here are some interesting articles that I enjoyed and commented on this week. There were many more, so this is just a sampling.

Jeff at My Supercharged Life wrote an encouraging post about Facing Opposition that I thoroughly enjoyed and commented on.

Stephen at The Rat Race Trap wrote a very powerful article about an important Fundamental Life Decision. In it he included a quote from my book and a link to my blog.

Mike at Learn This did 2 articles of a 3 part series about The Imaginative Mind that were fantastic. Obviously I commented on Mike’s and Stephen’s articles.

Kristi at Kikolani wrote A Comprehensive Guide to Using RSS that was such a good resource, I have decided to link to it from my “Why RSS” page. So her efforts added to the value of my page.

Dragos wrote an awesome 4 part series about The First 6 Months of Blogging. He covered Writing, Promotion, Money and Tools, all from his personal experience. This kind of information can save a new blogger loads of time and work. For that reason I am going to include links to each article in my Bloggers page.

Relationships matter even online

As you can see, there has been a mutually beneficial exchange of resources and encouragement here. Trust me when I tell you that this list barely scratched the surface. There were many more activities and quite a few other people involved. Interacting on this level is a good example of how making wise choices about your associates can have a positive influence on you life experience.

Want more? Follow the links of those who comment on this blog and you will discover some very interesting people with a lot of value to contribute.