WHAT IS GOOD RELATIONSHIP BUILDING?

Good relationships are the foundation of all community organizing activities. Whether you want to host a volleyball game or get rid of unfair housing in your city, you need a lot of good connections. Why? Good relationships with colleagues, the communities we serve, and even our opponents are the means to achieve our goals. People do not work in isolation: we must work together! Together, our good relationships form the basis for organized change. We need a lot of people who bring their ideas, set up, and do the work.
People also motivate us to achieve our goals. As community builders, we care deeply about people, and caring is part of our work.  We often have the health and happiness of our children, neighbors, and co-workers in mind It’s important to care about others and work hard.

 we strive to overcome obstacles and take on challenges that may seem overwhelming.

If you are an official leader or an active citizen. without an official title, you will be most effective if you build many strong, good relationships in the community around you.
In this section, we will talk about building and maintaining good relationships and give you practical advice and general guidance.
And remember: regular people learn the skills to build and maintain good ones all the time. You don’t have to be particularly attractive, witty or talented. But if you’re charming, witty, or talented, these instructions might help you, too!

WHY DO WE NEED TO CREATE GOOD RELATIONSHIPS AND SURPRISE?

Let’s look at this example:
Holding a High Party
Let’s say you want to throw a block party. What good connections do you need to make this happen?
Who will help you plan the block party?
Wouldn’t it be more entertaining, if you could organize these block parties with some neighbors instead of yourself?

How do you get approval and cooperation from the locals?

Many cities require approval from city councils or leadership groups. block party permissions. A friend or two from the local authority can help you figure out how to navigate the red tape of getting a permit. If you don’t know anyone, you can build good relationships along the way.
Who else could help?
If you already have a good relationship with the owner of the corner store, he might give you watermelon or drinks at the block party. . If you know any firefighters in your neighborhood, they might be willing to bring a fire truck for the kids to climb on. Do you have a clown friend?
Who is coming to the block party?
Last but not least, to have a successful block party, you want to have as many people on your block as possible.
 If your neighbors know you or someone else on the planning committee, they will be much more willing to overcome their shyness and show up.
Overall, the more people you know, the easier it will be to throw a block party and the more fun it will be. it will be for everyone.

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FEW REASONS TO BUILD GOOD RELATIONSHIPS:

• Community building is done one at a time. If you want them to contribute to a group or organization, you need to build good relationships with people. Some people join organizations because they believe in something. However, many people join a community group or organization simply because they have a good relationship with someone else who is already involved.
• We need good relationships to find allies in our cause. To get support from outside our organizations, we need to build good relationships where people know and trust us.
• Our good relationships give meaning and richness to our work and life. We all need a community of people to share the joys and struggles of organizing and implementing community change. Just a little companionship is valuable.

WHAT GOOD RELATIONSHIP ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?

Every good relationship is different, but they are all important. If you smile and greet the school border guard every day when you go to work, you have developed a good relationship. This cross guardian may be the one who looks after your children or grandchildren when they are old enough to walk to school alone. The guardian will remember you and your warm smile when you see your child across the street. And maybe hire a crossing guard to run the Citizens Traffic Safety Committee.
A positive relationship with a Border Patrol Agent may be completely distinct from that with the members of your neighborhood park improvement committee. Good relationships with the mayor’s assistant, staff, board members, and spouse are all different, but they all play an important role in community organizing.
The more good relationships you have, the better You never know when they will come in handy. A nearby gang member could be the perfect fit for you to form a team and help construct a sand playground in your community.
 Whether it’s government officials, school teachers, business people, the elderly, gardeners, children, the disabled, the homeless, or anyone else, making friends will pay off in ways you never expected.

YOU ARE IN THE CENTER

Imagine a wheel where you are the hub or in the middle and there is a good relationship with another person on each side. Does that sound selfish? It doesn’t have to be. It takes many spokes to hold the wheel together, and the wheel helps move the initiative. There is enough room in the group for everyone to create their own wheel of strong good relationships.
It’s about making time to build and maintain good relationships. If you wait for others to develop good relationships with you, you can spend a lot of time waiting.
One reminder: there is no point in developing good relationships just to get people to work for you. It doesn’t work because people feel used. Community builders are honest about good relationships. We make good relationships because we like someone, because we have something to give that person, or because we have a common goal.
WHEN DO YOU BUILD AND KEEP GOOD RELATIONSHIPS?
You do it all the time. By spending an additional 5 minutes to ask the man on the envelope how he thinks the baseball team will perform this year, you can foster a stronger bond.

Some good relationships take more time than others. If you wish, you could meet for lunch once a month with all the leaders of other youth organizations in your city. You may have to meet twice this week with an employee who feels resentful at work. From time to time, you may want to call your school board representative to check on common concerns.
As community organizers with limited resources, we are often under tremendous pressure that distracts us from focusing on good relationships. We feel the need to achieve important goals. We mistakenly believe that spending time on good relationships is that fluffy stuff that makes a person feel good but can’t get the job done. However, good relationships are often the key to solving a problem or finding a job. Building and maintaining many solid relationships is central to our work as community leaders.

GOOD RELATIONSHIPS ARE THE FOUNDATION

Building good relationships is often the foundation that must be built before anything else is done in a project. The bigger the project, the more good relationships you usually need as a foundation.
If you are, for example, organizing a coalition of community groups to create a multicultural art center, it would be a good idea to get to know the people in; every organization before you try to bring them together in the project.
Ask yourself, “Is there anyone that you know. or a complete stranger convince you?” Then direct your answer.
When planning a project, you need to consider the time needed to build good relationships in your plan. People need time to build trust. When people work together, they must have a good relationship of trust. When there is a lack of trust, it is usually difficult for people to work together. They are afraid of taking too many risks. Disagreements seem to have erupted for no significant reason. Investing time, resources and organizational reputation can be risky. At least people want some return on their investment. They need to feel that you know them as a person, understand their interests and not let them down.
Back to the multicultural arts center example – if there are several community groups involved in creating it and you don’t know them well (and they don’t know each other), start with a smaller project together first. For example, you can sponsor together by sharing a culture. Once the evening is successful, you have gained mutual trust and confidence to build on. You can plan a series of similar events that build confidence over a period of time.
If things aren’t going well, make a copy and try an easier challenge. If you start talking about a multicultural arts center and people show more signs of fear than excitement, slow the process down. Accept the easier challenge until strong good relationships are born better.

READ GOOD RELATIONSHIPS BEFORE YOU NEED THEM

It is always better to build good relationships before you need them or before conflict arises. If you already have a good relationship with the owner of the neighborhood grocery store, you’ll have a better chance of helping resolve a fight between him and some of the neighborhood teenagers. If you already have a good relationship with your school board representative, they may be more receptive to your ideas about special education funding.

BUILDING GOOD RELATIONSHIPS IN A CRISIS

It is not impossible to build good relationships during a crisis, and often a crisis. can bring people together. Although it may seem unusual, take advantage of your organization’s crises. Call for help and people will answer the call. You can build good relationships if you have help because people often want to help.