BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS FOR PROGRESS

Effective living is about connecting and working with others. We must not just focus on achieving success, but rather also learn how to relate and work with others.

Success and significance are always celebrated in the context of positive relationships. Maximising our capacity or potential is not just about us, it is also about other people around us. All of us need to learn how to develop long-term relationships with people who could help us become better in life and fulfill our destiny. As a matter of fact, relational capacity is critical to personal and professional success. Many of us could trace our successes and failures to certain relationships in our lives. Relationships must be positive, rewarding and productive.

In order to build meaningful and productive relationships, there are certain attitudes we must cultivate and develop in our lives. First and foremost we must never take people for granted. It is imperative that we value and appreciate people.
We must intentionally consider others as important and love them unconditionally. We must place value on each other; when we value people, we will be committed to them, their well-being and their development. Never look down on any person, always love, respect and value people. The inability to love, value and care about people is one of the great barriers to developing positive relationships at family or professional levels.

There is a saying that says; “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
In relationships, it is important to focus on how much you can give to others than focusing on how you can benefit from them. Never assume things, always develop awareness around relationships. It is said assumption is a killer of relationships. We need to cultivate awareness in terms of changes that take place over a period of time in relationships.

That’s the way we can be intentionally adding value to our relationships. To be effective in relationships we must be consistent, dependable and trustworthy. Develop a consistent lifestyle and never allow other people’s inconsistency to make you inconsistent. The behaviour of others should not be allowed to control your emotions or attitudes. All of us possess the capacity and capability to control our emotions. It’s a choice you make.
Relating with people can sometimes be very difficult and complex. Love is the power that helps us navigate around difficult people. Love gives us the ability to treat others better than they treat us. Love is patient, kind, merciful and forgiving. Love is the force that catapults us beyond the weaknesses, fears and insecurities of others.

Love, mercy and forgiveness are the medicine that heals the wounds that are caused by malicious gossips and slander from the people around us. Interactions with different kinds of people demand growth spiritually, emotionally and mentally.
Childish behaviour is a recipe for perpetual strife at workplaces, and is an anti-productive vise. Vision 2022 demands that we be intentionally relational and learn to work together. Effective living is about working together to bring out the best in each other. Actually society is much better if we all learn to work together and think together. Positive relationships are key in achieving the vision and getting things done. A Chinese proverb says; “Behind an able man, there are always other able men.” Andrew Carnegie said; “It marks a big step in your development when you come to realise that other people can help you do a better job than you could do alone.”

The law of significance demands that we realise we cannot do anything of real significance without building positive relationships and working together. Former United States President Lyndon Johnson said; “There are no problems we can’t solve together, and very few we can solve ourselves.” Great relationships give us access to more resources, ideas, strength and multiple perspectives on how to meet a need or solve a problem. In real life there are no supermen or super women, we need each other.
We must put aside our egoistic tendencies as humans and learn to relate with others for maximum impact. Pride and jealous are hindrances to effective relationships because they cause us to be suspicious and fearful of each other. We must realise that each one of us is unique and adds value to society one way or the other. Let us cultivate unity in relationships so that we make Swaziland a better place to live in. Strife usually slows down development at any level and in every sphere of existence.

Productive relationships demand that we respect each other even when we do not agree on everything, or see eye to eye on how things should be done. Learning to submit to one another is one of the great strengths of a people who are focused on working together in order to achieve a common goal. Positive relationships and working together are always essential to building a great nation and achieving national unity and vision.

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