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Rela%onship Mastery for

C-suite and Senior Managers.
‘7 Steps to more Effec0ve, More Valued and
Stronger Working Rela0onships’

Dr. Ted Marra

Yours may be one of the most challenging posi0ons in an organiza0on – always walking a 0ghtrope
between the Board of Directors and the CEO/CFO and the rest of the leadership team, being pulled
in many direc0ons as the poli0cal powers to be tug or pull oNen in different direc0ons rather than
in an aligned direc0on; oNen lack of clarity regarding what is truly urgent and why versus what is
just undue pressure for results even you don’t feel comfortable that you always have the best data
and informa0on, analyzed and interpreted; some0mes the situa0on is just too fluid. SeSng
priori0es is key, but it is key to ensure they are the right priori0es for all stakeholders involved. Yet,
what has just been described is only a small, although, cri0cal component of your organiza0on’s
governance system which may look something like that shown in the diagram below:

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It is becoming increasingly clear that change is constant, oNen having greater impact than in 0mes
past and coming more frequently than ever. What else is clear? Research has indicated that
organiza0ons have greater stability in 0mes of change when there are excep0onal working
rela0onships within the organiza0on and with key external stakeholders. In effect, CXO’s par0cularly
but certainly not alone, need to possess the skill of Rela0onship Mastery to be ul0mately successful
in their role and in adding value for the organiza0on. It has now become a ‘cri$cal to success’ skill.
If you as a member of the C-suite want to achieve your full poten0al to contribute be[er ensure the
success of your organiza0on, this skill is a ‘must have’ – not an op0on!

What’s Required to Achieve Relationship Mastery?

ANer 45 years of experience, you gain some invaluable insights into what the requirements are.
While this short Whitepaper will not go into detail regarding every aspect (these details will be leN
for our new Global Risk Academy ‘Rela0onship Mastery Course’, I will share some seven (7) steps
that I would take based upon my experiences that would be a move in the right direc0on! There are
others, but those below be a ‘founda0on’.

Step 1:
Develop a ranked list. In our course we will have special charts to help guide your ac0vi0es in this
first step.
(a) If you do not already have one, develop a ranked list of your 3-5 most important
rela%onships (internal or external). Think through what should be included in the criteria
and who should make the ‘cut’. We know, of course, there will be some rela0onships which
are largely if not totally ‘poli0cal’ in nature and will need to be included even though, in
reality, you could do without them!
(b) Now, using a quality scale (the easiest and most effec0ve) where 1=poor and
5=excep0onal, rate each of the rela0onships you have iden0fied.
(c) Now look at the paIerns, e.g., importance versus quality and see where improvements are
needed (gain consensus from your staff and others as appropriate) and begin to map out an
improvement plan with an ‘owner’. That ‘owner’ may be a small cross-func0onal Business
Rela0onship Transforma0on team.

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Step 2:
Leadership is as much about knowing what to STOP doing as it is about what to do! My Doctoral
thesis focused on the link between leadership behaviors and prac0ces and the impact they have on
organiza0onal performance.
(a) As just one example (more to be discussed in our program) is the 7th most lethal behaviour/
prac0ce – ‘too much focus on the numbers’.
(b) The consequences of this behaviour/prac0ce is far reaching in nature. It tends to reduce
teamwork and collabora0on and fosters a /blame’ culture. While there are other impacts,
these alone can create significant organiza0onal performance deteriora0on.

(c) Leadership must be vigilant to ensure that this behaviour/prac0ce as well as others even
more serious are iden0fied and ac0ons taken to prevent them.

Step 3:
I have found over the years that having the right infrastructure in place can improve the quality of
decisions as well as the speed with which they are made.
In effect, what my years of experience have uncovered is that it is best again from an effec0veness
and speed perspec0ve, to literally ‘decompose complexity’.
This is achieved by establishing a rela0vely small number of Councils – subsets of the Leadership or
even the Board of Directors each having laser light focus such as Rela0onship Excellence, Human
Performance Excellence, Opera0onal Excellence as well as a select few others as required. These
Councils should link to the organiza0ons Cri0cal Success Factors necessary for achieving the
organiza0ons vision.
Each Council is supported by a Strategic Business Transforma0on Team made up of cross-func0onal
high performance personnel.
More detail on these structures will be covered in our course.

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Step 4:
Establish a systema%c, integrated and comprehensive Rela%onship Strategy Process. As you will
see in the approach which I have evolved and u0lized some 20 years, that there are 7 key tasks
which must be explored in order to ensure the working rela0onship which results with the key
individuals as well as the Board as a whole, are excep0onal.
(a) For example, there needs to be a measurement component as we will need to
know if our strategy is working – helping to make the working rela0onship stronger.
What to measure and how oNen are cri0cal items we will be discussing in our
course.

Step 5:
Create a bag of tools, techniques and methods to support your efforts. So, what would you put in
such a bag? Here are some sugges0ons based upon my experience:
1. The Eight Pillars of Service Excellence. Service quality only lets you play the
game – its table stakes. Service Excellence is what will differen0ate your
organiza0on.
2. The Five Universal Requirements Customers want most or they are
mo0vated to defect to a compe0tor or alternate provider.
3. LIFO (Lifestyles Orienta0ons – an assessment tool) which reveals individuals
(yours, your Board Members, the Leadership Team) preferred style of
interac0on – cri0cal to understanding the nature of working rela0onships.
4. Qualita$ve research – focus groups and interviews to learn of the cri0cal
requirements customers desire (example from The London Underground).
5. AS already men0oned, the 7 Step Rela$onship Strategy process
6. The Rela$onship Review consis0ng of four parts one of which is a look at
the future emerging trends and factors which will weigh most heavily on
achieving success – achieving the ‘vision’.
7. Others may be added during the program.

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Step 6:
Unleash ‘crea%vity’ and ‘innova%on’ in your organiza%on – especially that which is driven from the
feedback from your valued working rela0onships which lets them know you are ‘listening and taking
ac0on on what you hear’. There are approaches such as Crea0vity Labs and Customer Labs which
can add great insights. Think of ‘crea0vity’ as the con0nuous flame – similar to the Olympic flame
which should con0nuously burn bright and provide people throughout the organiza0on the
opportunity to release their ideas in a structured manner, which in turn, drives innova0on which
can add value to stakeholders – internal and external to the organiza0on.
When the term ‘value’ is men0oned in the above paragraph we are NOT referring to ‘shareholder
value’ which too oNen is the poli0cally correct phrase for ‘profit’.
Whenever there are innova0ons or key decisions, it is cri0cal that what is produced is stakeholder
‘value’ where I define ‘value’ as ‘any tangible or intangible benefit which the customer recognizes
and appreciates and which the compe00on (or alterna0ve provider) is either unwilling or unable to
provide. As a result, ‘value’ provides an immediate source of compe00ve advantage based on
differen0a0on. In addi0on, ‘value’ is the founda0on upon which secure, unbreakable working
rela0onships are built.

Step 7:
Learn in detail what your internal customers and key business partners expect from you from an
interpersonal perspec0ve and a process perspec0ve to ensure an excep0onal working rela0onship is built
and maintained.. Failure in either of these areas can lead to future opportuni0es for collabora0on and
crea0ve solu0ons to be missed and therefore overall organiza0onal performance to suffer.

Join the Relationship Mastery Program

The above 7 points represent a sampling of what our new course on Rela%onship Mastery will be
all about. Addi0onal points and examples will be included throughout the program.
To sign-up for the new program, click on the following link and prepare for a journey of discovery
and learning.
_________________________________________________________________________________

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Program Overview by Module and Session – Final (10

Modules; 20 Sessions)

 Module I: The Star0ng Point: The Center of the Universe Approach for Building Rela0onships.

Session 1: Star0ng with the Top 3 Most Cri$cal Individuals you need an Excep0onal Working
Rela0onship With and reviewing a systema$c, integrated and comprehensive decision-
making process which minimizes the cost of lost opportunity.

Session 2: Who are the other ‘key’ Individuals you need an excep0onal working rela0onship
with, what are you doing to iden0fy them and then doing to establish, build and maintain
excep0onal working rela0onships with them as well?

 Module II: As a Member of the Risk Management Team, you are a ‘supplier’. The Ques0on is whether
your customers, mostly internal, would consider you and your staff as an ‘ideal supplier’ or just a
‘mediocre one’.

Session 1: The Key Criteria you must meet or fail to be respected as ‘ideal’ – Part 1

Session 2: The Key Criteria you must meet or fail to be respected as ‘ideal’ – Part 2

 Module III: The 6 Universal customer, (e.g., Chairman of the Board, CEO, CFO and others as your
customers) requirements you need to meet or exceed if you hope to take your working key
rela0onships to the next level

Session 1: Why these Requirements are so cri0cal based on what has been learned from
years of research and prac0ce (the first 3 criteria). The implica0ons on rela0onships of not
mee0ng these 3 criteria.

Session 2: Why these Requirements are so cri0cal based on what has been learned from
years of research and prac0ce (the second 3 criteria). The implica0ons on rela0onships of not
mee0ng these 3 criteria.

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 Module IV: The 8 Behaviors and Prac$ces that are more important to customers, clients &,
stakeholders – internal or external, than any other. Learn them and use them for consistently
greater success. Proprietary insights from work with clients.

Session I: What they are and why they are important – Part 1

Session II: What they are and why they are important – Part 2

 Module V: If you were to conduct a survey of your internal customers, clients and stakeholders,
what would they say is most important to them and how would they say you are doing in your
performance in each area?

Session 1: The ‘people’ component.

Session 2: The ‘process’ component and the overall ra0ng performance.

 Module VI: How to develop a rela$onship strategy that guarantees posi0ve impact on your working
rela0onships.

Session 1: Iden0fying and aligning the rela0onships.

Session 2: The 3 levels of requirements (e.g., basics, wishes and value) you need to
understand in-depth about your customers, clients and stakeholders.

Session 3: Measuring the impact of your rela0onship strategies, enhancing (2 key ques0ons
you need to answer) them and improving your process.

Session 4: The indispensable ‘toolkit’ for excep0onal working rela0onships- comple0ng the
approaches designed to guarantee success in your working rela0onships including a view of
the important assessment tool: LIFO by Dr. Stuart Atkins.

 Module VII: Defining the most powerful approach yet for maintaining and strengthening working
rela0onships – the ‘Rela$onship Review Process’.

Session 1: GeSng a future orienta$on and compara$ve viewpoint.

Session 2: Assessing the quality of the working current rela$onship, iden$fying key and
unique requirements, your performance against them as well as improvements.

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 Module IX: ‘The Fros0ng on the Cake’!

Session 1: Crea$vity and Innova$on – new insights.

Session 2: The concept of ‘value’ defined properly! How does Risk Management add value
and how? Is it recognized and appreciated? How do you know?

 Module X: Building an Infrastructure that will help you reach your poten0al and leading by example.

Session 1: Organizing your resources and key rela0onships to improve the quality decision-
making and reducing the speed by as much as 50%!

Session 2: Examples of lethal behaviors and prac0ces which must be avoided and why if you
want to achieve excep0onal working rela0onships.

Join the Rela$onship Mastery Program

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