Relationship Management skills are -- you guessed it -- all about managing your relationships with others. These skills can include teamwork and collaboration; conflict management; and influencing and inspiring others. Good relationship management skills are contingent on both self-awareness and social-awareness skills. In other words, one needs the ability to recognise one’s own emotions and the feelings of others in order to effectively manage the relationship in between.

Good working relationships create a great work environment, which impacts all parts of the organisation. Conversely, bad working relationships can contribute to a toxic work environment and negatively affect the organisation’s work. Take a look at the example below to get a better understanding of the importance of relationship management.

Case Study: Soraia

Soraia had recently secured a new management role at a mid-sized charity and had a direct report -- Henry -- for the first time in her career. She had worked hard to become more self aware and spent a lot of time thinking reflectively about her own strengths and weaknesses. However, she never had to ‘manage down’ or learn how to manage such a relationship.

Soraia didn’t worry about this much as she feels she has a strong reflective practice. But soon Henry began submitting subpar work that didn’t match her brief, and seemed disengaged from the organisation as a whole. After consulting with a mentor, Soraia realised that she hadn’t put any effort into managing her working relationship with Henry. She never took the time to get to know him nor explained to him the reasons behind certain decisions. She was also afraid to ask for or provide feedback, which led to a confusing and uncertain work environment for Henry. She has never engaged her direct report, and that’s why he appeared disengaged!

Once she realised this, Soraia put effort into sensing Henry’s moods and feelings about certain projects. She could sense hesitation about certain projects and encouraged questions; eventually, they developed a much friendlier working relationship and Henry felt comfortable enough to express his concerns about his role, their department, and their projects. This gave Soraia the opportunity to explain why things were done in certain ways, and to reflect on his insights.

Developing both self awareness and social awareness is the first step in improving your relationship management skills. Once you’ve done that, you can take your relationship management skills a step further by learning how to: inspire and guide others; initiate change; be an influential leader; learn how to manage conflicts; and practice good teamwork. 

Those behaviours are all rooted in self awareness, social awareness and reflection, but there are some specific skills to add to your personal development arsenal. For example, developing your communication skills can help you ease conflict, inspire others and become more influential. Similarly, learning how to assess context is the first step to initiating and managing change.

Relationship Management is a crucial element of management in the social sector. Our Management Essentials programme covers six of the most relevant skills needed including management at all levels.