Last week ASTRAL Executive Search organised a seminar “How to create the ideal working relationship?”, where the lecturer Sandra Liepa together with the participants examined the importance of effective working relationships in an organisation and their impact on the working environment.
Participants discussed the role of the manager and how the relationship with the line manager (who is like a “managing partner” in the working relationship) is essential for the success of the organisation. Participants strongly agreed that if the relationship with the line manager is not sufficiently open and secure, it can create confusion in the power pyramid and make the working environment unfriendly.
It was also concluded that good working relationships are based on mutual trust, respect, emotional security, openness and shared values. This includes the need for HR professionals to have sufficient self-awareness to effectively promote and maintain these principles. The workshop analysed the role of self-awareness in building and maintaining relationships and noted that both excessive and insufficient self-awareness can have a negative impact on working relationships.
In the second part, we focused on empathy and acceptance of diversity in working relationships, with a particular focus on how empathy and understanding diversity can improve cooperation between different personalities and types of behaviour.
Participants discussed how different behavioural traits, such as results orientation or the desire for recognition, mutual understanding or precision in everything, influence team dynamics and individual approaches to work tasks. The importance of empathy was highlighted, being able to recognise and respect individual differences in behaviour and motivation. Following Daniel Ofman’s model, also known as “mirror theory”, participants were encouraged to use it to better understand their personal challenges in working with different personalities. Ofman’s approach promotes personal growth by helping individuals to recognise and overcome their blind spots, or the very traits that are most challenging or cause conflict.
Sandra also actively facilitated and told the participants how to practically apply both DiSC and Ofman approaches to foster a positive and productive work environment. This type of approach can help people to become aware of their personal growth opportunities and improve their skills for successful relationship management in an organisation, while supporting a working environment where everyone can feel valued and involved.
At the end of the event, participants made proposals on how to improve relationship management in their organisations, drawing on the lessons learned.
The discussions and the active participation of the workshop attendees showed that improving relationship management is a key factor in an organisation’s overall well-being and employee satisfaction.
The workshop provided a valuable platform for both sharing experiences and gaining practical recommendations that will contribute to positive changes in the professional performance of the participants.
