In life and business, relationships have always mattered.
Relationships create mutual benefits and facilitate achievement. At the same time, they deliver stability and value for both those in relationships and those impacted by the relationship.
As a cooperative, our organization has been constructed and sustained on prioritizing relationships. Here’s what we believe about relationships:
Relationships don’t just happen or grow on their own.
Building relationships takes effort, commitment, and patience. Although we live in a society accustomed to instant gratification, relationships continue to work differently. We know it can take even longer to develop those relationships.
This is due to reliance on virtual working environments, preference for other communication channels, and new requirements in some industries that suddenly have restricted age-old sales meals. With the lack of in-person connection where we could look someone in the eye and establish credibility, it’s become critical to find new ways to connect and build trust.
Instead, we returned to phone calls and leveraged video conversations to make the case for working together. Our actions had to speak louder than our words. In making the extra effort to illustrate consistent service delivery and an ethical and values-driven approach to working with our managed community partners, we solidified these relationships on a deeper level.
We ramped up the contact with our members. It was important to reach out, check on how they were doing, and assess what we could do to address their individual needs. Our members know that we are concerned about them.
Relationships change over time.
Just like a relationship cannot grow on its own, it also doesn’t stay the same. Circumstances, changing goals, and new expectations are dynamics that evolve relationships. Not addressing these changes can be detrimental. Your customers, members, partners, and even colleagues may feel as though you are taking them for granted and are not in-tune with their evolution.
We have used our regular check-ins with members to better understand the impact of the lockdowns, the overall pandemic, and now the new operating environment as the country begins to open up. Increasing communication and asking questions helped us discover what we had to do differently as these relationships changed over time. Our flexibility as a co-op also enables us to quickly address and adapt to maintain healthy relationships with our members.
Relationships must be addressed at individual and team levels.
It’s important to have a multi-dimensional approach to relationships that considers individual feelings alongside group expectations.
Our co-op is very much accustomed to thinking of relationships in a collective way. However, we also respect the spirit of independence and unique attributes that define each of our members. Taken together, we have been able to personalize and deepen all relationships.
Being part of one relationship can help create other relationships.
That’s why we take special care in how we approach our relationship with members. We know that our values, supportive words and actions, and positive mindset have a ripple effect that then helps our members extend those good vibes to their managed property partners. At Innovia, we live by the concept of developing pay-it-forward relationships. In the process, we see our members nurture healthy and beneficial relationships that enhance their brand and reputation.
Let’s start building a mutually supportive partnership.
Innovia is committed to developing and nurturing relationships with each of its members. We want to do the same for you. If you are ready to work with an organization that sees you as a partner and wants to invest in your success, contact us here.
