It’s important to go from having purely transactional relationships with stakeholders to create more informal and personal connections. This will foster trust and engagement.

Questions to ask yourself:

• How well do I actually know my key stakeholders from a work perspective? Do I know about all aspects of their role, how their work is measured, what challenges they face in their role, and the extent to which my work is important to them?

• How well do I actually know my key stakeholders from a personal perspective? Do I know where and how they live, with whom, and what their interests are outside work?

• Have I asked my colleagues about their professional and personal goals?

• Have I got a system to capture this data so I remember it and can reference it next time we catch up?

• Am I capturing this extra information with a genuine interest in understanding my colleagues and with a willingness to help them, or am I just using the relationship as a way to forward my career. If the latter, will this build or destroy trust?

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