Business success is reliant on being able to get on with people. Relationships with your internal colleagues and external clients and referrers are the foundation of business success in just about every job function and industry. My new book on Better Business Relationships is now in the pipeline.

The ability to communicate with, encourage, influence, persuade, change, motivate and lead others is vital. My new book Better Business Relationships brings together a wealth of knowledge, insight and practical advice from leaders in psychology and experts in management to communications and sales, to provide guidance to both new and more experienced business people in traditional and digital environments.

I have a life-long passion for psychology – spanning undergraduate studies, NLP training, psychometric assessment and professional coaching qualifications and integrative counselling training. This is interwoven with three decades experience in the business world (mostly in the technology and professional services sectors) covering strategy, change management, marketing, selling and relationship management. So this book – bringing the two strands together – is something I’ve wanted to write for a long time.

The pace of technological development means that increasingly people connect digitally so communication skills and the ability to form meaningful professional relationships is at risk of becoming a dying art. There is a generation gap – both the old and the new generations need to develop a deeper understanding of each other and adapt so that it can be bridged. There is increased diversity in the workplace – there are more virtual teams with people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. These are all challenges for business people who need to forge and develop strong business relationships.

While working with business leaders as a strategic consultant and Non-Executive Director (NED) http://kimtasso.com/consultancy/non-executive-director/ and also with those entering the workforce, I have been frustrated that there wasn’t a single source of information to guide them through the maze of communication and relationship challenges. My ambition was to create one book that covered a wide range of psychological ideas that would support better business relationships in an accessible way.

The book contains six sections around my DACRIE© model and covers:

  1. Difference and diversity – understanding yourself and other people
    • Personality, style, perception and cognition
    • Managing emotions, authenticity, emotional intelligence (EQ) and empathy
    • Gender, generation and cultural differences
  2. Adaptation and change
    • Habits, filters and comfort zones
    • Learning processes – managing change in ourselves and others
    • Resilience and stress management
  3. Communication
    • Face-to-face, telephone, presentation, written and digital communication
    • The importance of Non-verbal communication (NVC)
    • Influence, persuasion and storytelling
  4. Relationships and conflict management
    • Relationship management competencies including rapport and trust
    • Different types of relationship and how they are formed
    • Difficult behaviours, conflict management and negotiation
  5. Internal relationships and teams
    • Organisational culture, working with your manager and internal politics
    • Groups and teams – styles, integration, buy-in and performance
    • Delegation, coaching, feedback, motivation and leadership
  6. External relationships and selling
    • Self-esteem, confidence and client service
    • Decision making processes – Selling yourself and your ideas
    • Meetings, pitches, key accounts and referrer management

Better Business Relationships is ideal for anyone who wants to improve their relationships at work and gain a greater understanding of critical social and communications skills required to succeed in any professional or business environment.

Better Business Relationships will be published in September 2018. Further details from Bloomsbury: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/better-business-relationships-9781472957016/ The book can also be pre-ordered on Amazon.

(Please get in touch if you are interested in reviewing the book pre-publication)