This time during Covid is an exceptional opportunity for us to cultivate our ability to create closer relationships with family, with our colleagues and with our clients.
I believe there is not a single person among us who is not craving more connection and to feel more secure inside.
We can use our voice to deepen our relationships. Our voice can help bring someone closer to us over the phone or video.
What we say and how we say it is not nearly as important as where we are coming from. Or how we are relating to others as human beings.
There are three soft skills we can develop which bring people closer to us:
1) Warmth and Openness,
2) Caring and
3) Listening Presence
As we grow these abilities we find that our voice shifts to match WHO weare now being or becoming. Our voices can then be used to deepen our relationships over phone, video or live in person.
At Work
If you have employees they are likely wanting much more connection from their leaders and colleagues during Covid.
Your clients are certainly craving more connection as well. Your deepening relationship with them now may likely be very much wanted and needed.
You and your team can become a trusted supply of connection and security for your clients.
This can yield high returns during and after covid and positively affect your bottom line.
Here’s how to deepen our relationships during Covid
You can do weekly video calls with your ‘stay at home’ teams on the relationships soft-skills:
1) Warmth and Openness
Warmth and openness towards others raises our own feelings of security.
Discuss:
What does it FEEL LIKE to have more warmth and openness towards my client, and my team-mates?
How can warmth and openness increase my own and my client’s feelings of security, to help build trust and good-will with my client?
2) Caring
Caring for others increases our own security. And it raises the security of others.
Caring is cultivating a deepening curiosity about our client, which can be taking a profound interest in their needs and what they most want.
We can learn to become highly curious about what someone might not share with us normally. Learning to care more is key to creating deeper connection and trust.
Discussion:
What does it FEEL like to care for another? How does that affect me?
3) Listening and Presence
Listening with full presence can dissolve our fears of connecting more deeply with another. Presence increases feelings of security.
Our clients are more attracted to us and can ‘bloom’ in our presence. They will want to spend more time with us and do more business with us.
“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
Company Culture … That Feels Wonderful!!!!
Practicing Warmth, Caring and Listening Presence can affect our company culturein positive ways.
Discuss:
What happens to us as human beings the more we practice these soft skills? With each other? With our families? With our clients?
Do we find that we may be growing in happiness?
Does our communication at home and at work become more effective through cultivating warmth, caring and listening presence?
Empathy and Understanding
As we practice these abilities our capacity for empathy and understanding grow which leads to more business being done.
It also benefits us personally through the meaning we have in the work we love doing for our clients.
Our voice naturally become more effective in service to another. And we see the wonderful difference we are making in people’s lives.