If I had to give one piece of advice for building great relationships of any kind, it’s this:
Build trust and find a way to have honest communication with one another.
I believe that communication is this important. We could be talking about a relationship with a coworker or boss, a marital relationship, or a close friendship, but in all of these relationships, having mutually honest communication is the cornerstone for building healthy relationships. Now, whether you tend to hold everything in and never communicate your point of view due to the fear of hurting another person until the tension can’t do anything else but erupt, or you dominate conversations in such a way that forces others to surrender to your opinion, please know that both methods aren’t very productive. Yes, there are much better ways to build better relationships than hiding from conflict and always being the one in control. When the best interests of all parties involved are kept in mind, words can both be spoken and received in love; it’s just a matter of looking at each scenario through the lens of “we,” rather than “me.”
So, how do you begin bettering your communication skills? Stop seeking to always be ‘right,’ but rather, seek to understand. This way, you are walking away from every situation with multiple perspectives to evaluate. Know that there are always more opinions than your own to consider, and who knows, you may even learn something valuable along the way.
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