RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT ON A PROJECT

Relationship Management and the Management of Projects is a guide to successfully building and managing relationships as a project team manager and in the project business. All project team members (product owner, project executors; internally and externally) must have a healthy relationship while working on a project with the end-user in mind.
Relationship management is a core skill for any business to develop capabilities and manage the interface with projects, providing support to team members both within and outside the organization.
Relationship management is a core skill for any project business to be successful. Whatever the structures and procedures an organization has and whatever the project management tools and techniques, they are only as good as the hands they are in. 
Good relationships can be the difference between outstanding success and dismal failure because it’s all about getting people to like and trust you so that they will deliver what you need them to deliver at the right time in the right way.
Few tips on relationship management

• Networking Helps Build Relationships

Networking (internal and external) is essentially about building solid relationships. To do this you need good skills in creating rapport and listening. If you can make a connection with people on subjects you have a genuine interest in, their confidence in you will grow. Use this connection to engage them and then ask genuine questions and just listen. They will tell you what you need to know. Strong bonds will inevitably stem from commonalities discovered in simple conversation.

• Getting personal

Building good relationships means being truly interested in the people you deal with, both from a business and personal view. While discussing business issues is usually the main purpose of speaking with someone, finding out something personal about them takes the relationship to the next level.

• Establish a Culture That Favours Relationships

Establishing a healthy culture as part of that community can help win the hearts and minds of clients, staff and suppliers. Culture is about sharing values and a healthy culture will be one that has people who care about each other.  A good culture includes (often unspoken) expectations about the way things are done. In a project team, these can be about how members respond to inquiries, how they greet each other, and how they behave when the pressure is on. It’s about treating people with respect and listening to their point of view. This doesn’t mean you have to agree, but it does mean you respect their right to think differently and to express their views.

• IT Projects Also Require Good Relationships

All this applies very well in IT projects. Too much of interaction within the IT industry is about technical information and people are too often forgotten. However, when people start talking, listening and understanding each other, communication is improved and productive relationships are developed. IT can deliver solutions if the people involved understanding what the client is asking for.
As with anything that involves people, establishing processes to encourage good communication and relationships and make clear expectations, provides the cornerstone for success in any project.