When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. – John Muir
No subject has received more literary, academic, dramatic, or clinical attention than “relationships.” Yet in the modern workplace we have personal computers, private (even remote) offices, and individual performance rewards that trick us into believing that we work alone (or at best with Siri). But do we really accomplish any work alone?
Whether you are on an assembly line, writing code, managing mergers, or scheming strategically, we need others – people, departments, investors, etc. – to take our work from concept to customer and idea to implementation.
And it is the work done between these leaders, customers, departments, and even competitors that are the fertile ground for profound human successes and failures. It is the place where we suffer and soar – where we display our best, most dignified selves and our worst.
And while we tend to believe that our work relationships are just a means to an end, the average employee spends four times as many hours a week with their colleagues than their family! Now imagine if we approached our work relationships as we do our relationship with our children or spouse?
At Navalent we believe that an organization is only as strong as it’s interconnected relationships and thus worth lots of reflection and intention. And that is why this month’s Navalent Quarterly, our first, is focused on those relationships between us. In the Navalent Quarterly’s pages we will help you transform the relationships BETWEEN members, leaders, levels, and even departments of your organization so that you can grow to be exceptional.
We write this material as a team of individuals, working remotely and scattered across the country. We are reminded daily of our need for strong relational connection and are fellow journeymen and women trying to live out the ideas found on this blog and in the Navalent Quarterly as we seek to understand and leverage our deep interconnectedness.
Sign up for the Navalent Quarterly and receive exclusive content or stay tuned to our blog each Tuesday for new posts.