 How to build professional relationships at work is a challenge for us all, whether new into a job, working with new colleagues, aiming for a promotion, trying to increase your influence within the workplace, etc. I share eight tried and tested ways to increase the speed at which you build professional relationships at work and improve the quality of your professional relationships. Building more and better professional relationships at work at all levels helps you personally in so many ways. The key ones being, firstly, it makes you more effective at work, i.e. you deliver more and you influence more, etc. Secondly, increasing your enjoyment at being at work. And thirdly, increasing the likelihood of being promoted. And as you head towards and through the management ranks, your ability to build good professional relationships with all colleagues, suppliers and customers becomes more and more important for further career progression. My name is Jess Coles and I've had a 25 year management career in corporates and household names through to SMEs. I learnt how to build professional relationships quickly from the CEO through to interns and have often been a go-to person in many companies. I've worked at as a result of those relationships. Let me share with you my secrets of how to build good professional relationships quickly. And if you're new to this channel, enhance.training shares, business and people management expertise to help you improve your performance and that of your team and business. And if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe. So the starting point in how to build professional relationships at work is to be a likeable person. Be friendly to your colleagues and everyone where you work. Smile and greet them by name when you see people in the corridor at the water cooler in meetings etc. Be open and honest when you speak to others and when you work with them. And show your personality and be yourself. Be kind, considerate and friendly. In short, give your colleagues plenty of reasons to think positively towards you. Don't gossip about colleagues or those that you know outside of work. Don't spread negative rumors, don't openly criticise others. Word will get around that you gossip, criticise etc. And you will reduce the trust that people have in you. You can't build good professional relationships without trust. So be friendly and positive. Be interested in getting to know as many people around you as you can. These actions will help you get off to a good start in building professional relationships at work. The second action in how to build professional relationships at work is to meet face to face. You know humans are social creatures and we like meeting people in person. And there are a lot more ways to interact with others these days and all have their uses. The quickest and surest way to build professional relationships is spending time with others face to face. So make the effort to visit the colleague even if it does take longer to get up from a desk and walk up the stairs to their desk. Don't use the phone when you can fit in a face to face chat. You know saying that it is not always practical to always meet face to face. So when thinking about how to build professional relationships the order to use communication methods with the most important first is firstly face to face, secondly video call, thirdly phone call and fourth email chat, text, direct message etc. When two people talk studies have proven that the word set account for only 7% of what is communicated. The tone of voice conveys 38% of the meaning and the body language 55%. This is why meeting face to face is so important. You get so much more information and you can build trust much more quickly. The third action in how to build professional relationships at work is to do your homework before meeting. Learn as much about the other person as possible. What is their style at work? For instance if you are using the insights framework as an example are they detailed, action, relationships or socially orientated? How do they like others communicating with them? What are they responsible for at work and what is expected of these people? What common acquaintances do you both have? And who do they socialise with at work? You know find out. And outside of work what do they like doing? What are their hobbies and what is their family situation? In short, find enough information that you can ask a couple of questions to get them talking about themselves. If you want to build a good professional relationship you need to be interested in them and what they think and feel. Asking questions about their favourite subjects is a great way to get to know more about them and set them at ease. Fourth, when thinking about how to build professional relationships at work, find excuses to meet with those you want to build a professional relationship with. Here are some suggestions of how to do this. Firstly ask for an introductory meeting with those you wish to get to know. Make the meeting about them, not you. Similar tactics are to invite the person to coffee say or to lunch. Second, reciprocity. Find out what projects they're working on and proactively provide analysis, introductions, insight or something of value to them in completing their project. This is such a good tactic. Third, ask the person for their input and opinion on an activity or project that you're working on. And fourth, send them an article or report that you know will be useful to them and then ask to meet. Find any sensible work-based excuse to contact the person you want to build a relationship with. Think, how can I be valuable to them? Fifth, when building professional relationships at work, don't forget to build a personal relationship as well as a professional relationship. If you keep your relationships entirely focused on the professional side, i.e. what is happening at work, your relationships will be much shallower, less useful and less enjoyable than if you also include a focus on the other person's personal side. Find out what their hobbies are, what their interests are and what is important in their life. Do they play a sport, you know, coach a youth team or do charity work? Do they have a favourite sports team they follow? Are they currently learning a new language or planning an exotic holiday? Do they have young children or a new pet? What gets them excited? Think of questions to ask that will get them talking about a favourite subject. A pro tip, keep notes about each person's key interests. When you have to remember the interests of more than, say, 20-30 people, your notes can become very useful indeed. And don't forget to tell them about yourself too. Make sure the focus is on them more than you. Sixth, when considering how to build professional relationships at work, always aim to help first and ask second. Helping others first is employing the social law of reciprocity, which is really powerful. Don't even think about trying to build a professional relationship at work based on what you want. Make the time to work out how you can help the other person and deliver this. Yes, you will put in more time and effort up front with this approach. I can guarantee you, you will get all this investment back several times over with 19 out of 20 people by getting a better or trusting relationship much quicker. In conversations seek to understand what pressures the other person is under and what are the key blockers or challenges they are facing. Once you understand their position then and only then start to talk about your position and what you might want. Think, how can I help this person? What can you or your team do to make their life easier? Or what will get their project or activity finished quicker or better? Actively look for opportunities to help the person that you want to build a professional relationship with. Understanding what the other person needs or wants is the first step. Delivering against this is the next crucial step. The seventh and in my view the most important action when building professional relationships at work is to deliver what you say and to do so when you say. Within a business everyone's work impacts on colleagues and ultimately the wider team. If you don't deliver you'll let others down and the quality of your professional relationship will be limited. Being good at what you do or at least good enough is very important in building professional relationships. Deliver what you've said that you're going to deliver. Being nice alone is just not enough. Think about the people around you at work. You are likely to have a person that is nice, enjoyable to be around, personable yet does an okay job at best. Compare how they are thought of to those that are just as nice to work with and deliver day in, day out. Those that deliver consistently enjoy firstly a higher standing in the team, secondly their opinions carry more weight, thirdly they are given the better projects and activities, fourth they have more influence in the business and fifth colleagues are keen to work with them. In short the people that deliver consistently and employ the other actions that we've talked about build strong professional relationships that help them be significantly more effective at work. Their stronger professional relationships become a key factor in their outperformance. Make sure you deliver. The eighth action when learning how to build professional relationships at work is to ensure consistency of effort and action in maintaining your relationships at work. We put effort into what we value. To build strong professional relationships quickly everything you do must be done with consistency. What better way through your actions to make clear that you value the relationships that you are building. Don't put the effort in one week but not the next week and so on. Consistency of action is a great way to build trust. Put the effort in consistently. So in summary the eight actions you should take to build good professional relationships quickly are firstly be a likable person, secondly meet face to face, thirdly do your homework, fourth find excuses to meet, fifth build a personal as well as a professional relationship, sixth aim to help first and ask second, seventh deliver what you say you will and eighth ensure consistency of effort and action. Building good professional relationships at work in my experience makes a huge difference to how your colleagues view how effective you can be in your role particularly as you head into the management ranks and how much influence that you can exert on those around you and how much you enjoy being at work. These benefits easily outweigh the effort of building good professional relationships. Don't forget to take a look at the links in the description below for more videos on building essential skills for workplace success. Thanks for watching and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.