What Your Professor Didn't Tell You About Running a Business

We all know that it's important to get along with people we know and work with. Past President, Theodore Roosevelt once said, "The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." One of our greatest Presidents said this, yet so many people don't know how and don't care about getting along with other people.

While you were attending High School I'm sure you remember all the drama of the students. It seemed like no one could get along with anybody. This same attitude carries over into the business environment, except now it has a negative affect on you and your business.

To be honest it's difficult to be nice to someone who is always grouchy, puts you down, and makes you feel worthless. It takes a lot of effort to find a way to get along with difficult people.

I've heard several people say, "You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all of the time." It takes a very secure and patient person to get along with everyone.

Once you've learned how to get along with difficult people, you can now focus on building rapport with important colleagues and business partners.

Building rapport can be a complex process because it involves many factors we don't realize. In Tony Robbins book, Unlimited Power he defines rapport as, "The ability to enter someone else's world, to make him feel that you understand him, that you have a strong common bond." Tony also talks about the three types of people and how they interact with others; kinesthetic, auditory, and visual.
- Kinesthetic people talk very slow, are calm, and choose their words carefully.
- Auditory people talk a little faster, and say things like, "Sounds good to me."
- Visual people usually talk fast, don't worry about their words too much, and use analogies and metaphors to describe people and events.

My own personal experience with learning to build rapport with people has been difficult. I was always a person who used my ears and mouth proportionately. The proportion that I had was one mouth and about ten ears. I would ask questions, questions, and more questions, and I soon realized that questions don't help you build rapport. After walking away from many one on one meetings shaking my head because I hadn't build a solid rapport with the person, I realized that I had to figure out a way to find common ground with the people.

So, I've learned to ask certain questions that get people to talk about their job, family, or a hobby. I can always find a way to relate their job, family, or hobby to some kind of experience I've had. This lets them know that we are similar people and that we've went through some of the same circumstances, which makes people feel that I understand them.

The key is to use questions not to get the person to talk, but to get the person to talk so you can find something that you have in common. Building rapport is crucial when it comes to forming strategic alliances.

Forming strategic alliances with business associates can be a difficult task. You're always going to face the trouble of someone trying to take advantage of the other person, so you need to have a win/win mindset and communicate your sincere and genuine intentions to the other person. Having a win/win mindset is when both people benefit equally from a relationship or situation. In Steven Covey's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People he states, "If both people aren't winning, they are both losing." A strategic alliance is when you can share business, clients, and information that will benefit both of your businesses. This takes a significant amount of time and effort to build a level of trust where this kind of strategic alliance can be formed, but once it has been formed your business can really grow.

I hope these three business management practices gave you some ideas on how you can manage your business better, because I believe if you work harder than your employees, develop solid relationships with them, and focus on growing them, they will help you to grow your business.