How to categorise relationships so you succeed in business B y C her yl Ben ad ie, CE O , W hole Per s on Ac adem y
Y
ou’ve heard the saying that
CONDUCT A RELATIONSHIP AUDIT
the five closest people to
Pursuing your passion looks romantic
you become the average of
you. It’s true that the people that you align yourself with, will directly affect the success of your business. Once you take the road less travelled of
entrepreneurship, your relationship needs will change.
Think of the relationships in your life depicted as circles on a dart board. The bull’s eye represents your
on the outside. But once you’ve made the commitment, you start to realise
how much time, energy and attention
you need to invest to create long term success. Now you have to choose between social time and business
building time (which, let’s be honest, feels like it’s constant because you never stop thinking about ways to grow the business).
1. C ategorise your relationships as
high, medium and low investment:
• In a journal, write down the names of the five closest people to you. These are your high investment relationships and can include colleagues, family or friends.
• Medium investment relationships make up the second tier and
can include people that are your clients, peers, extended family members, etc.
• Finally, your low investment
relationship with yourself. You are the
The people that form your inner circle
relationships are going to be those
business. For your business to grow,
shift of focus. You may find that while
source of negativity in your life. It
are unable to help you navigate the
a friendship that you’ve had since
the entrepreneurial journey.
obligation is the only reason why
leadership lid on your life – and in your you need to keep growing your level of self-awareness.
You will need to become more
intentional about who has access
may or may not understand your
people that have been a constant
they support you in principle, they
might be close family members, or
turbulent emotions that are inherent in
high school. A sense of duty or
to your time and energy and which
One of the tools we use in our
the periphery to enable you to move
helping people conduct a relationship
relationships need to be shifted to forward with your business.
relationship management workshops is audit. In order to do this, you need to:
they remain in your life.
2. Assess the level of energy you need to expend when you are with them:
• With each name, close your eyes
and picture yourself meeting them
for a coffee. Are you excited about the prospect of spending time with them, or do you feel a sense of
dread? When you say goodbye to leave, are you feeling energised or drained?
• Place a plus next to their name if
they are adding to your energy and a minus next to their name if they drain your energy.
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