When it comes to the workplace, the power of internal relationships is often underestimated. I know this from personal experience. I was part of a team that didn’t get along very well in my previous job. We argued all the time, and it affected our work. Morale was low, and productivity suffered as a result.
It wasn’t until I left that job and started working somewhere with better internal relationships that I realized how important they are for business success. Nowadays, I always make sure to nurture strong internal relationships at work. These connections are key to maintaining a successful business – no matter what industry you’re in, from collaboration and communication to morale and productivity.
The Importance of Internal Relationship Management
The better you are at managing your internal and external business relationships, the better off your organization will be.
The more connections you have, the more opportunities you have.
But most businesses tend to focus on their outside business relationships, such as with customers, partners, and vendors. These are important, but internal relationships are just as important.
But, this only tells half the story.
Teamwork is integral to a company’s success. This is because it’s the only way to foster internal relationships.
This blog post will look at the importance of having strong, positive relationships with your coworkers and the four best ways to foster those: establishing your social network, communicating effectively, collaborating, and creating a more diverse, inclusive work environment.
Strong relationships between coworkers can increase productivity and efficiency in the workplace. When communication between team members is fluid, there is less chance of misunderstanding and wasted time.
Furthermore, when employees are diverse and come from different backgrounds, they can offer different ideas and perspectives, resulting in more sound decisions.
Lastly, when a company fosters a culture of positivity, it can boost the happiness and motivation of its employees, which, in turn, leads to improved performance.
You know that relationships are key. You spend a lot of time and effort making sure you have a strong relationship with your customers, partners, and anyone outside of your organization.
How To Manage Internal Relationships
How well are you managing your internal relationships?
1. Build your network
Networking is key to success at any company. The sooner you start networking, the better.
A 2018 study by HBR and their partners found that “pull” techniques are more effective than “push” techniques for building your network. “Pull” involves reaching out and asking others for advice or assistance, while “push” is when you try to sell yourself or your products.
This means you should focus your efforts on building up your network of professional contacts and be pickier about who you connect with at your company.
In an article in Harvard Business Review, they quote a consulting consultancy company, Booz, saying that “very specific investments in employees’ development make a big difference on how quickly they become more productive and enjoy their time spent at work.”.
Instead, try connecting with people within an organization to find the right person for you more easily.
The big-time failure rate of M&A
As has been well documented, 70% to 90% of Mergers & Acquisitions don’t succeed. Why is this?
One of the biggest reasons salespeople fail to close deals is because they don’t have a “People Inventory.”
Most data about the employees being acquired by a company is gathered through interviews and meetings. These insights are useful but never fully capture the value of those being hired.
Organizational charts are usually very different from the actual web of people responsible for executing tasks.
In any company, there’s always someone who’s the go-to for knowing “how we do things here.” They find someone who knows how to work the finances.
Businesses around the world use phone calls for important, time-sensitive matters.
Internal relationship management is critical for the success of M&A. By establishing strong relationships between employees, and organizations can gain valuable insights into organizational design and future structures. This allows employees to be positioned in areas where they can have the most impact and deliver the greatest results.
2. Have great communication in an organization
The sharing of information across an entire company can be a huge advantage. By keeping employees aligned from top to bottom and side to side, you can ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals.
Alignment between departments and levels of an organization helps keep employees productive and focused on the same goals. This eliminates confusion and makes sure that everyone has the resources they need.
It has been said that improving communications between employees in a company leads to better efficiency, fewer problems, and a better understanding of each other.
Sales & marketing alignment as a business grows.
As businesses grow, it can be increasingly difficult to maintain team cohesion. For instance, adding one new person to a team of three only increases the headcount by 33%, but communication complexity goes up by 400%.
As sales and marketing departments expand, they can become further apart. This can result in fewer interactions between the two teams and shorter, less-detailed conversations.
Some best practices for easing this alignment include regularly scheduled meetings with your manager, an effective onboarding process, and collaboration tools.
When these best practices are implemented, they can help decrease the risk of having disconnected teams and help create a more collaborative, unified, and cooperative environment.
As businesses grow, leaders become more important to focus on internal relationships to create high-performing teams. They can maintain or boost productivity and revenue throughout the organization by doing so.
3. Collaborate internally to deliver value to customers
Collaborating with your colleagues is undeniably one of the best ways to deliver more value to your clients.
When employees share customer information, they can help customers more efficiently and effectively.
When teams can share customer data and insights, they are better equipped to nurture those relationships and exceed customer expectations. By working closely together and leveraging each other’s expertise, teams can be more agile and responsive to customer needs.
From a team player to a sales machine
Her research has shown that the more you collaborate with other advisors in your team, the more you’ll be able to advise clients strategically and the more you’ll be able to generate revenues. Heidi Gardner’s research indicates that professionals who collaborate across service lines earn higher margins, enjoy increased client loyalty, and can command higher rates for their work.
Collaboration extends beyond individual practitioners; firms that encourage collaboration between specialists can offer more strategic guidance to clients and generate greater revenue.
Collaboration and involving specialists across a firm can increase strategic advice for clients and more revenue. When professionals from different areas work together, they can offer a more comprehensive service that clients are willing to pay more for.
The article compares two different lawyers who went to the same school, worked the same length of time and charged the same amount of money.
The difference between the two lawyers was that one had 6 partners, while the other had 30.
In 2016, lawyer two made $4,000 more than in 2015.
If increasing your business’ profitability and securing more lucrative contracts isn’t enough for you to invest in an internal CRM, I’m not sure what will!
4. Encouraging diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) are incredibly important for businesses. A business can greatly benefit by investing in D&I and creating a culture where employees from different backgrounds can connect.
Having a network of people with different experiences, education, and background can benefit your organization by bringing in new perspectives.
A more diverse workforce provides a wider range of perspectives to help navigate business challenges.
A diverse team creates more success.
In 2021, a study conducted by the research firm, Forrester, found that companies with strong diversity initiatives also had higher-performing sales teams.
According to a Forrester survey of 500 sales leaders, the top-performing teams had 3% better-forecasted revenue, 28% more conversions, 12% more closed deals, and 6% more satisfied customers compared to their underperforming counterparts.
5. Broaden your circle
The job of a leader is to make sure that every member of the team is doing their job. They can’t just sit around with other executives and think everything is going smoothly. They need to get out there and talk to the people that do all the work.
When leaders are humble enough to seek advice and help from their coworkers, they display quiet confidence and inspire others to greater heights. More importantly, they build strong relationships of trust.
This is something that male leaders could learn a lot from female leaders in. Female leaders are good at connecting with others, even those who are not in their inner circle, which can help boost company culture and employee happiness.
What is an internal relationship in an organization?
Why are internal relationships important?
How do you maintain internal relationships?
What is external relation?
Conclusion
Overall, the power of internal relationships should not be underestimated. They are key to a successful business, no matter what industry you’re in. If you want your company to thrive, nurture strong internal relationships between employees.
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