Are your relationships crumbling?

I can't go anywhere without seeing an opportunity for a blog post!

The sandcastle above lasted a minute or two before crumbling. It just needed a little more water to provide the glue that would have kept the sand together for much longer.   

Although, as I'm sure many of us have found, once the tide comes in all that care and attention amounts for nothing as our carefully designed castles topple back into the sea.

So what learning do I take from water that can be applied to communication - personally and organisationally?

• Communication is the glue that holds us together
• Too much communication and we can get overwhelmed
• Too little communication and it doesn't stick
• Communication isn't something you do once - it needs repeating regularly
• Communication little and often is better for absorption and flourishing 

Is your communication too much, too little, or if you'll allow me to mix my metaphors, just like Goldilocks' porridge and just right?

Alison Smith
Landscaping Your Life
Inspiring change inside and out

Do you need to soften them up first

After many days of heat wave the ground, brown from the lack of water over recent weeks, was hit with a torrential downpour today. The problem of course was after so much sun the ground was baked dry and the water could do nothing but sit on the top (as shown above).

It's the same when you water a plant that's been left for too long without water - the water just runs straight through.

The reason is that the soil needs time to soften up. In both instances watering little and often would speed up the absorption of the water and enable it to provide sustenance to the grass or plant roots.

Isn't that what communication in an organisation is like. If you communicate too much at a time then it just doesn't even go in, and you might as well have not bothered.

Alison Smith
Landscaping Your lifeInspiring change inside and out

How will your stakeholders grow?

The BBC's Springwatch just wouldn't be springwatch without Chris Packham and his charts - his delight at conveying data in a chart is contagious. I do have that trait myself - if I can put it in Excel I will and if I can then convey the data graphically all the better. 

Charts and tables aren't just for post activity data analysis they can also be used pre-activity. As you can see in this chart that shows you how to grow vegetables including: 

• what time of year you can plant them in and outside
• ideal soil temperature to enable the seeds to germinate
• their hardiness to weather changes (always needed here in Scotland)
• when to fertilise
• when to water 

Following the advice will optimise the likelihood of the vegetables making it to harvest and eventually the dinner table.

To optimise the likelihood of fruitful relationships with your stakeholders a similar table would be helpful - including information such as:

• likes
• dislikes
• what gets them up in a morning
• what keeps them awake at night
• support needed to enable them to flourish
• influence within the organisation
• support for purchasing/procurement

It's only by knowing this information that you can know how to flex your communication to suit them as an individual and increase the opportunity to influence and engage their support.

Alison Smith

Landscaping Your Life and The Purchasing Coach too