Business Relationship Management Lessons from Nature

With spring in full bloom and the summer at our doorsteps, many of us are already exploring the countless treasures of nature. Some of us are heading to the beach, while others are enjoying the pristine beauty of the fields, forests, or mountain ridges. With yet another busy work week behind, many will find a few hours of the needed peace and quiet standing ashore of a river or a hidden lake contemplating the beauty of nature with a fishing rod in hand.

As you head out to your next “nature trip”—whether you are going to the beach or are joining your friends for a camping weekend, I invite you to be on a lookout for any hidden insights that nature might offer you…on how to be a better Business Relationship Manager. Yes, you got that right! Many ideas and guiding principles—much of what we seek to learn from complex models, cumbersome frameworks, and the latest best practices has been available, in plain sight, for the last few million years—ready to be learned by anyone, who makes an effort to notice them. For starters, the core purpose of Business Relationship Management, business value maximization, is nothing but another interpretation of the Systems Thinking theory, which takes some of its best models from nature. The well-being of every living system, whether it is a tree, a forest, an ecosystem, or nature as a whole depends on tight “collaborative codependency” between its elements facilitated by effective, accurate communication among them (e.g. imagine what happens with a human body, when its neural communications begin misfiring and send false signals to the brain).

But let my scholarly digressions delay you no longer—the weather is great and the fun outdoors are waiting, so let’s head out and enjoy! As you step on the luxurious green carpet of a field or a forest floor, please, be on the lookout for and walk carefully around poison ivy and poison oak. These plants bland in rather well into the green tapestry, but, as many of you know, getting as little as a light touch from them on one’s skin can have disastrous consequences! But, wait, here is our first BRM lesson from Nature—waiting for us in plain sight next to the poisonous plant—the Jewelweed (for more information on Jewelweed and many other commonly found healing plants, see this great book). Used properly, it can quickly and effectively relieve the pain and neutralize the harmful effects of poison ivy and poison oak powerful toxins. What is really fascinating, however, is that Jewelweed very often grows right next to the poison ivy and poison oak—ready to help, if one knows how to tap on its healing properties. In fact, this rather incredible close co-habitation principle is not limited to poison ivy and Jewelweed and is known to botanists and laypeople alike:

“Right next to the poison, there is often a cure.”

Poison Ivy (left) often grows next to Jewelweed (right). Images courtesy of Wikipedia and Riverdaze.

In your BRM work, the same principle often applies. Whether you are having a challenge gaining necessary support from a crucial stakeholder or a particularly stubborn representative of a service provider is unwilling to get onboard of an important transformation initiative, the solution is often right there and it does not have to be a higher-up escalation (which, in case of a stakeholder, might not be an option anyway). Look for the people whom the individual you target trusts and respects and reach out to them for assistance. Too simple? Well, remember the Jewelweed? It doesn’t have to be difficult to be effective, doesn’t it?

For our next BRM lesson from Nature, we shall look upward. If the time is right, and, with the right tools at hand (if you left your binoculars at home, please feel free to use mine!), we might spot an owl! Everyone knows that owls’ sharp eyesight allows them to spot and catch mice and other tiny critters running on the ground, even in near-complete darkness. An owl’s unique anatomy enables it to have a 360-degree view of its surroundings providing a complete “no surprises” view of the bird’s environment. This ability alone is likely to make many a BRM envious—a complete and accurate view of one’s operating environment at all times. But there is another great lesson that BRMs can learn from owls, so let’s keep our binoculars up for a bit longer.

Every animal species has developed a number of fascinating ways to adopt to changing conditions, but one owl in particular deserves a Special Grand Prize for its remarkable ability to differentiate among and modulate its response to different “stakeholders.” Meet the Northern White-faced Owl, and watch the  “Transformer Owl” in action in this YouTube video. Are you as flexible as this remarkable bird is in your interactions with different parties?

Enjoy the great outdoors!

Sincerely,
Aleksandr Zhuk

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