Making Relationships Work at Work

Richard Fox was a partner in The Learning Corporation, a pan European firm of leadership coaches, facilitators and business mentors. He was a PCC credentialed coach with the International Coach Federation, a Master NLP practitioner and a member of the International Association for Coaching.He helped create The Learning Corporation after a successful period as a partner with KPMG, having played a leading role with them in setting up an office and developing a thriving client base.As a leadership coach Richard helped leaders and managers create and sustain an environment in which people can express themselves, optimise their potential and do their best work.He was an experienced business mentor, facilitator and coach with specialist skills in the key areas of developing people in line with strategy; collaborative working, talent development, building strategic alliances, partnerships and structured networks.As a master facilitator, Richard worked with organisations facilitating workshops on e.g. personal effectiveness, building networking capability, visioning, strategic thinking, managing change, leadership, coaching and mentoring, organisational learning, team working, creativity and innovation.His previous book, Creating a Purposeful Life: How to reclaim your life, live more meaningfully and befriend time, was published by Infinite Ideas in June 2012.

This book contains advice, tips and tools on the practical application of building effective relationships at work. It could easily form the basis of part of an induction process or other training to ensure highly effective teams. Very useful and easy to absorb and use in all life’s interactions.

• About this book............................................................... vii Part one: Building the foundations: the must haves...........1 1 It’s all about relationships............................................3 2 The master builder lays the foundation stone: rapport and trust.........................................................15 3 Is it just me? Working with different personalities................................................................35 4 Mind-sets and relationships........................................55 5 Communicating from the inside out.........................77 6 Listening heart and soul.............................................99 Part two: Handling the everyday stuff........................... 117 7 Things we haven’t talked about: how are we going to work together and what are our values? .......................................................................119 8 No-con, no-sham influencing..................................129 9 Getting going and keeping going: motivating myself and others......................................................147 10 My best self: making the most of my strengths.......161 11 The art of good feedback: feedback for learning...............................................175 12 How come I’m doing what you could be doing? Delegating without resentment...............................197 Part three: Succeeding in special circumstances............ 211 13 Is there anybody out there? Working in a dispersed or virtual team..........................................213 14 Ouch! That wasn’t nice! Handling challenging relationships..............................................................227 15 The riches of diversity..............................................249 The stepping up toolkit.....................................................267 Conclusions................................................................... 271 Author’s biographical details......................................... 273