C is for Working With People With Different Kinds Of Clicks

During your career you will work with both colleagues and customers with whom you have different kinds of clicks.

With some people there is both a personal and professional click. With some there is a professional click. With some there is no click at all. Let’s explore these three themes.

There is both a personal
and professional click

You may share similar values with these people and have a similar view of the world. Connection is easy, because you start from common assumptions.

You therefore begin at 7/10. This provides a springboard for getting to 10/10. Let’s consider how you can build with such people, beginning with colleagues.

Who are the colleagues with whom you share similar values? How can you help them to succeed? How can you co-operate to achieve success? One person said:

“During the past 15 years I have worked on several projects with two colleagues I met when working at my first company.

“Since then we have set up and sold two marketing companies. We know each other, warts and all. We also know how to work with our respective strengths and weaknesses.

“People describe me as a serial entrepreneur. Wherever I go, however, I will always take these two people.

Let’s move onto your customers. Who are the customers with whom you work best? What are their personality characteristics? How can you do more work with these customers? How can you help them to succeed?

They may recommend you to similar kinds of customers, but this should not be forced. Providing you do good work, this may well happen naturally.

If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. Looking at both colleagues and customers, this invites you to do the following things.

Describe the people with whom you have both a personal and professional click. Write their names.

Describe the specific things you can do to build with these people.

There is a professional click

You may find this happens when working with somebody in your professional life. Whilst having differing personalities, you both strongly believe in achieving a specific goal.

Many famous comic partnerships in show business, for example, comprised of people who seldom saw each other socially. Once on stage, however, they produced fine performances.

Similarly, you may have customers with whom there is little social talk. It is quickly down to the matter in hand. You will probably take several steps to manage such relationships.

You will prepare properly.

Looking ahead to any interaction, you will ask yourself:

“What will be the person’s goals? What will they want to achieve in the short, medium and long-term? How can I help them to succeed?”

You will be professional.

When starting a meeting you will double check what they want to achieve in the session. You will also make crystal clear contracts about what must be delivered by when. You will aim to deliver high professional standards in everything you do with the person.

You will deliver peak performances.

You will keep your promises, reassure the person and perform superb work. You will deliver the agreed results and sometimes also add that touch of magic to deliver peak performance.

If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. Looking at both colleagues and customers, this invites you to do the following things.

Describe the people with whom you have a professional click. Write their names.

Describe the specific things you can do to build with these people.

There is no click

Sometimes you may find yourself in work situations where there is absolutely no connection between you and the other person.

It is best to avoid such problems, but circumstances may mean it is necessary to work together to achieve a specific goal. You may feel on guard, however, and unable to relax.

How to deal with such difficulties? Imagine there is a video camera on you all the time. You will aim to be professional and behave in a diligent way. It will be hard work, because you may need:

To mentally rehearse every situation that may arise.

To be fully alert and pay attention to everything.

To make crystal clear contracts before, during and at the end of each meeting or interaction.

To be super professional, perform superb work and deliver the goods.

To be prepared for increased demands or criticism and know how to manage such behaviour in a professional way.

We frequently do our best work with kindred spirits, but this is not always possible.

It is therefore useful to clarify your strategies for working with different types of people. You are then more able to perform superb work and achieve an agreed picture of success.

If you wish, try tackling the final exercise on this theme. Looking at both colleagues and customers, this invites you to do the following things.

Describe the professional situations where you may be with people with whom there is no click.

Describe the specific things you can do to be professional in these situations.