Building Impactful Relationships: My Journey with Business Relationship Management
In 2012, I was eager to learn more about Business Relationship Management (BRM), I had seen it in different frameworks and it was connecting with some of my focus of work in the past. I had a presentation planned in April 2013, titled “Driving Miss Daisy took too long. Building relationships can take time.” After seeing the movie I realized you could build a trusted relationship in 50 years, I needed to be able to help organizations to do that in a shorter timeframe. Little did I know that this journey would take me down a path of exciting discoveries, new relationships, and continuous learning.
As I delved deeper into the field, I discovered the BRM Institute, an organization that had a shared passion for BRM. Aaron Barnes called me after I had posted the video of the presentation and we met later that year in the first official BRM course. I was thrilled to find other individuals who shared my enthusiasm for building strong relationships that could make a significant impact on an organization.
Over the past ten years, I have been privileged to work with the BRM Institute and collaborate with individuals from around the world. Through attending conferences and delivering presentations, I have continued to develop my skills and deepen my knowledge of BRM. The last couple of years I have coached a lot of organizations on BRM and this further drove my passion to make this a leadership capability.
One of the key things that I have learned in my journey is that cultivating impactful relationships requires a clear focus on value and impact. It’s not enough to simply build relationships; we must also ensure that they are delivering tangible results and impact for our organizations.
BRM is a crucial leadership capability that helps organizations build and maintain relationships with their customers, partners, and stakeholders. It requires a strategic approach to identify value and then build a plan to achieve that value and the related impact. With BRM, we can identify and deliver value in a way that fosters long-term relationships that create great results.
Over the years through coaching, I have seen first-hand the importance of building impactful relationships in business. I have witnessed the power of BRM in action, and how it can help organizations achieve their goals and objectives. It’s a discipline that requires continuous learning, collaboration, and a willingness to embrace change.
As I look to the future, I am excited to see where BRM will go. The landscape of business is continually evolving, and it’s essential that we stay ahead of the curve. At the BRMConnect conference in Portland in 2023, I will be introducing some of the new approaches that I have developed with my colleague, Elka Schrijver, to advance a BRM capability in organizations. It’s an exciting opportunity to connect with others in the field, share ideas, and learn about the latest advancements in BRM. Both Elka and I received the prestigious Arnie Award from the BRM Institute, Elka in 2022 and I received it in 2021. We are not done yet, we are continuously further developing our advancing our BRM capability approaches. Our passion is working with leadership teams to show how to advance a BRM Capability that meet their needs in a VUCA (volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Agile) world.
In conclusion, my journey with BRM has been a thrilling and rewarding experience. I have been fortunate to work with the BRM Institute and collaborate with individuals who share my passion for building strong relationships. I believe that cultivating relationships requires a clear focus on value and impact, and BRM is the key to achieving that.