How was your Christmas?

 

Did you have any interesting visitors?

 

Benjamin Franklin reckoned that Fish and Visitors smell after three days. 

 

I was reminded of that bit of wisdom at a recent Relationship Management Workshop just before Christmas. There were a couple of dozen people in the room. These were tough people. Many years at the top end of the construction industry had hardened them into formidable contract managers. 

 

Take-no-prisoners, and shoot-the-stragglers sort of people. 

 

I asked the participants how they planned to manage their relationships over the Christmas break. There was general agreement that ‘dealing with the relations’ during Christmas was something of a nightmare. Innocent sounding phrases like “Her side of the family” and “Helping with the drinks” took on an aura of dread. There were strict instructions issued about which subjects were to be ‘Not Mentioned’. Lips had to be buttoned and acts tidied up. It could be done, but only for three days, and with considerable discomfort.

 

The good news was that managing relationships is something that we can all do.

 

For three days.

 

Managing an Alliance or Partnering Contract uses many of the same skills, but goes on for years. No wonder burn-out rates are high. Fortunately for us, Tony Lendrum’s 0-10 Relationship Management system of tools, techniques and frameworks makes this difficult task manageable. Tony has been developing the system for over 20 years, and is showing no sign of burn-out yet.

 

He hasn’t started to smell either.

 

Check out Tony’s stuff at 0to10rm.com

 

Happy New Year.

 

Jock Macneish