Investing in Responsive Relationships

Practicing the art of responsiveness can earn the kind of influence that enables swift, effective decisions - even under pressure. But the higher the stakes, the more important it will be to have made ongoing investments into each of those relationships. Like any sound investment strategy, the time and energy we put into responsive relationships drives measurable returns.

I always work to cram more into my schedule than most folks would consider sane. Over the last few months, though, I’ve outdone myself. In addition to presenting an average of eight different lessons per month (many of which were for the very first time) with nearly as many separate groups, hosting at least one group event locally each month, finalizing the copy-editing process for The Values Advantage, and coordinating schedules with our IMPACT Leadership Academy and Executive Leadership Elite Think Tank participants for the coming year, we’ve maintained all of our regularly scheduled programming. Oh, and we’ve been working on two other new projects that will launch in the coming months. Please don’t take that as me looking for sympathy; I absolutely love what we do. Praise God for the opportunities!

As you can imagine, I have little margin for error through the week. Weekends, however, have become critical catch-up days. That said, one recent Saturday was dedicated as an investment into relationships with several business associates - and overall great friends. Rather than having ten focused hours at my desk to work through things without the distractions that come during the week, I squeezed in two hours before hitting the road. The one hundred mile round trip that followed included three stops at events, about an hour and a half at each, showing support for the teams involved. As important as it is for me to actively build relationships with everyone on each of those teams, that time served as a significant investment in the relationships I have with the leader of each.

Make no mistake, much of the drive time I had throughout the day was spent by me thinking about all that would be waiting on me when I returned to my desk. Nurturing the connection I had with each of those leaders, though, was the absolute best investment I could have made at that time for increasing the responsiveness (and effectiveness) in our relationships. All three of those leaders maintain schedules that are just as busy as mine. In each case, we had time side by side with few distractions. That time not only allowed us to discuss any open items that needed attention, it also helped deepen our already strong friendships.

I can’t think of a single instance over the last thirty years where I’ve asked Terry Ward for some time to solicit his input. While that time wasn’t always immediate, his response was. His responsive investment into our relationship, especially since he had nothing to gain, set a tremendous example for how I could work to nurture connections. Chris Rollins, for more than a decade now, has done the same. Before we look specifically at how impactful they’ve been by mentoring through this kind of responsiveness, I’ll challenge you to consider your closest business associates and list the ones where you can begin (or continue) investing in responsive relationships.