Two Soft Skills to Help You Build True Relationships
I see my friends (and myself) approach new jobs or partnerships and I notice these two things to be the main reason for their failure.
Lacking empathy and the ability to step back for a moment to look at the big picture keep us from succeeding.
Now, why are these two things important? Let’s start with the first one.
Are You Empathic Enough?
If you’re approaching a new customer or simply a friend you’d like to network with, how much you’d be able to connect with them determines how the relationship goes.
Empathy goes along with curiosity. When you share a deep curiosity for the other person’s profession, a really genuine curiosity, then wanting to know more about them comes naturally.
Now, if we trace this will deep down into its roots, we’ll find out the curiosity is related to our love for the topic. For example, if you’re selling cars, and you’re meeting with a customer, you’d need to share a love for the topic.
Besides asking them general questions about cars and what brands they like, you’d want to know what they do they like into a car, when are they going to use it and what problems would it solve for them. Then, you’ll notice whether they’re purchasing a car because of their passion or because they need it.
If they’re purchasing it only because they need it, it’s useless to talk about cars in detail. Showing true empathy you should start talking about the issues they’ll solve with this new car.
Another example would be with remote clients. Working as a freelancer, I’ve learned that researching what your clients need and trying to achieve the best for them is what creates strong partnerships. Not talking about the expertise you’ve won and trying to deliver work that you think has high quality without considering how useful it would be for the client. (and believe me, the approach works.)
Can You Zoom Out?
Perspective is important to build strong professional or personal relationships. Instead of grinding every single second to accomplish whatever comes at your plate, step back and think about the results. Will it be worth it or could you spend that time on something else instead?
Last week, my friend and I signed a deal with a client regarding social media content. Everything from videos, photos, and content, we’d get it done for him. Excited about the opportunity, we signed and accepted to do the work even though things seemed unclear.
If we were for a moment to zoom out and see what was needed and whether we’d be able to deliver, it would have saved us quite a lot of time. Instead, we thought we’d figure it out in the process.
After a few days, we found out that the expectations were unrealistic, people were missing, and we were asked to find them when our job didn’t consist of this at all. Let alone the communication back and forth which was draining and wasted us hours we could have spent working and getting paid.
Had we stepped back to look at the big picture and see whether we had the experience, place, and instructions required to get the job done, we’d have saved ourselves hours of unpaid work. However, we walked away with golden lessons, and nothing was entirely useless as an experience.
Closing Thoughts
Are you asking yourself why you’re not finding a client or partner that will help you level up and be with you for the long term? Stop lying to yourself that you have to search more without going deeper into the people’s needs and stepping back to look at the big picture. Even if you don’t, don’t step away without learning the lessons each situation brings. That’s what grows us.
