Course Description

In business, relationship management is the key to your success.

If you have strong relationship-building skills, you can work cooperatively with colleagues, resolve conflict and create a great impression on your customers.

Find out what it takes to achieve relationship success in this introduction to positive workplace communication. Hear how to build constructive relationship dynamics, actively shape positive conversations, build trust and sort out disagreements collaboratively.

This introductory level communication course is suitable for anyone who wants to contribute positively to a team or build effective client relationships.

The overall aim of this course is to provide you with a toolkit for shaping positive relationship dynamics. The techniques covered in the program are evidence-based tools from positive psychology.

Target Student

This introductory course is suitable for team members, frontline supervisors, customer service professionals, and individuals wishing to enhance their relationship-building skills.

Prerequisites

None.

Delivery Method

Instructor-led, group-paced.

Performance-Based Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• create healthy relationship dynamics by boosting the positivity ratio of your interactions.
• avoid four behaviours which negatively impact relationships.
• take a strategic approach to fostering positive relationships at work.
• take an ‘active constructive’ approach to communicating with your peers and contacts
• build trust by adopting behaviours that boost credibility, reliability and intimacy
• use a four-step process to sort out conflicts, disagreements or difficult situations.

Course Content

The program is highly interactive, with an emphasis on practical activities and class exercises.

You will get hands-on experience using positive communication techniques, in addition to covering key theories relevant to building positive work relationships.

The topics you will cover are outlined below.

Building healthy relationship dynamics

Creating positive relationships involves influencing relationship dynamics. In this session, we will:

• explore a model of relationships developed by John Gottman
• discover which behaviours can damage a relationship and how to avoid these
• learn to use three key elements – autonomy, respect, and attentiveness – to build a foundation for relationship success
• assess your own behaviours and develop a plan for building positive relationships – even when you don’t experience a natural ‘click’ with someone else.

Taking a constructive approach to relationships

Customers, suppliers and co-workers are all essential for your success and you need to notice and respond positively to their bids for attention. In this session you will:

• learn to deepen connections by using active constructive responding techniques
• track and improve your 'positivity ratio – so you can build and sustain healthy and constructive relationships in a range of professional contexts.

Building trust

What’s the single, most important ingredient in a successful relationship? Social psychologists have shown that it is trust. In this session, you will assess your own ability to build trust, using the trusted advisor model. You will also learn to apply behavioural strategies for increasing credibility, reliability, and intimacy in professional relationships – so you are perceived as a trusted advisor or associate.

Improving difficult relationships

Successful relationships are based on collaborative behaviour. When relationships become strained, you need to know how to sort things out. In this session, you will learn to:

• reframe your thinking about ‘difficult people’ so you can set appropriate boundaries
• use a four-step model to focus on the issue, not the person
• uncover and address the issue which is triggering challenging behaviour
• explore the other person’s needs, as well as explaining yours
• use solution-focused questions to sort out problems
• create an agreement so you can move forward after conflict.