Page 179 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

76 BUILDING BUSINESS
RELATIONSHIPS

By giving greater priority to the quality of relationships internally
with colleagues and externally with customers and others,
businesses will prosper.

The idea

Leaders often claim that “people are our greatest asset”—without
any real understanding of what this means in practice. Optima
is a business based in London that helps individuals to improve
leadership skills, and organizations to improve the way they do
business. Optima’s focus (and main source of differentiation) is
helping to build “amazing business relationships.” Optima’s success
highlights the value and appeal of its approach. More than that, it is
widely regarded as a great place to work and do business.
Building business relationships is an obvious yet difficult task
to achieve, requiring productive, open, supportive, and assertive
relationships, both inside and outside the organization. If people
are an organization’s greatest asset, it is sensible to focus on getting
the most from that asset through productive, positive relationships.

In practice

How can you develop trusted business relationships? Most of us
are taught the answer when we are children; we just seem to forget
the essentials as we grow older. Several simple rules can help you
get started:

172 • 100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS