Building Relationships | DS Workforce Initiative

Building relationships is about intentionally collaborating to develop meaningful relationships with people supported, co-workers, families, community partners and other stakeholders. It is about seeking opportunities to create collaborative partnerships to meet mutual goals.

From a sustainability perspective, building relationships is about fostering past relationships, understanding the current context and how to ensure reciprocal satisfaction. It also means anticipating future possibilities of partnerships.

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Growth Levels

Emerging

Establishes positive relationships

Assumes personal responsibility to do their share of the work and follows through in a timely manner on inquiries, requests and concerns from individuals, their families, community partners and others
Identifies the strength of key individual relationships and improves them in their immediate environment
Maintains clear and timely communication with individuals and families, seeks continual feedback about service experience and shares helpful information and person directed goals
Shares information, expertise and insight with team members about actions or proposed changes that will affect them. Uses ethical judgement about sharing information with others
Treats other team members with respect, and listens with an open mind to others’ points of view
Genuinely values others’ input and expertise and sees how each member contributes to a process and to the success of the team
Sees value in engaging with diverse perspectives and takes advantage of those opportunities
Values the diversity of roles, talents, skills, cultures and backgrounds that others bring to their learning and to joint team efforts
Identifies and seeks out others who can support the goals of the team
Willingly seeks diversity of feedback on ideas and adjusts accordingly

Evolving

Growing collaborative relationships

Able to maintain current and established relationships that benefits the person receiving services, their family, the organization and the community
Demonstrates commitment to initiatives by actively contributing to the efforts of a team and by recognizing the contributions of others
Engages others in dialogue about the importance of relationship building to foster reflection and growth in self and others
Appreciates the value that diversity and people’s lived experiences, contributes to a relationship
Identifies the strength of key individual relationships and improves them in their immediate environment
Encourages people to continue their efforts through support and feedback when they become discouraged
Actively finds ways to build positive, friendly, inclusive, diverse and cooperative relationships that will lead to new community involvement opportunities
In a timely manner works to resolve conflicts by clarifying understanding, listening for underlying concerns, and defining areas of agreement and disagreement between parties
Recognizing that team consensus may at times outweigh individual viewpoint
Consistently holds self and others accountable for promoting collaboration and resolving conflicts to facilitate a win-win resolution of differences

Leading

Builds networks

Seeks to creatively build on and develop new relationships beyond their current sphere that would benefit people receiving supports, families, other staff, and the workplace to address immediate and future needs as an agent of change
Recognizes where strengths lie within and across resources and taps into their expertise; makes best use of people’s talents to achieve superior services/results
Establishes networks and systems that promote the sharing of best practices and specialized knowledge transfer
Focuses on the collective impact, and on collaboration over competition
Uses good communication and interpersonal skills to uncover potential misunderstandings, concerns and needs that may inhibit partnerships and relationships
Uses a mentoring approach when collaborating with partners to develop capacity in a manner that benefits others in anticipation of future needs
Explores and assesses relationships to understand and evaluate the opportunities that exist, or could potentially exist for further partnerships, leading to community inclusion and belonging.
Builds positive relationships within and across teams

Influencing

Creates social capital for greater good

Uses strategic planning processes to create new opportunities and build on existing relationships as a driver of positive change and transformation
Uses collaborative relationships and positional power to align multiple perspectives, influence policy, community, and organizational development to build respect and positive outcomes for people receiving supports, families and/or the workplace/sector
Creates synergy across roles/agencies/partners/ funders/sectors to best meet the needs of the people who receive support or other stakeholders
Demonstrates the value of reciprocity of social capital and exchange of knowledge and skills, and is recognized by others for their work in this way
Values and seeks exchange of social capital and diverse connections within a broad range of contexts, including funding, community, organizational partnerships, and cross sectoral opportunities

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