Relationship building is crucial to lots of things in life, both personally and professionally. I think most people would agree that daily life is more rewarding when you surround yourself with people who you connect and collaborate with.  Everyone builds relationships a little differently, but one fact is universal.  Without relationships, you simply can not achieve an optimal level of success or personal satisfaction.  Here are a five tips for creating effective relationships:

• Be there without being asked to be. Anticipating the needs of someone else is a true indicator of a strong relationship.  Help someone before they need to ask for your assistance.  Check in on a regular basis and ask how they are, what they need and how you may help them.
• Listen.  Actively listening to someone is more than just hearing what they say.  Pay attention to tone, inflection, word choice and emotion.  Then appropriately ask questions so that you further their needs in a meaningful way.
• Look them in the eye.  I recently read that social media, texting and email lead to a false sense of security in relationships.  Despite the ability to connect to someone 24/7, we aren’t keeping our relationships as healthy as we may think.  Human connections need to happen in person from time to time.  Body language and eye contact are important contributors to emotionally connecting with an other person.
• Own your mistakes.  Stuff happens, as the saying goes.  When you make a mistake, regardless of the magnitude, it is important to own it. Don’t make excuses or spend lots of energy trying to back pedal.  Admit the mistake and take corrective actions to salvage (and potential strengthen) your reputation for the future.
• Pace yourself.  Don’t overwhelm someone with your presence by being ‘in their face’ or always around.  Take time to get to know someone with making small, appropriate points of contact. A ‘too much, too soon’ approach will raise red flags and cause someone to retreat from you. Be sincere, honest and helpful but over a long period of time.  This approach shows you are reliable, available and resourceful.

Of course, there are many more ways to build positive relationships, but these 5 tips offer a great start.  Take the time to learn about people, understand their philosophy and figure out how your mutual chemistries work.  By investing yourself by getting to know someone using these tips, the more you will bring to the table and, ultimately, the more you may benefit from the relationship.