More on Principles & Dangers

• Deep relationships can only operate in a small group.
• Get confident that everyone in that group pulls together willingly because they feel a bond between them.
• Each person must be able to be depended on by other members of the core group in relation to what is said or done for the organization.

• Trust cannot be forced. It takes time to develop because it is a product of repeated good experiences in which one person absolutely depends on another.
• Close and trusting personal bonds enable easy interaction because, on the one hand, thoughts and actions can be anticipated; and, on the other, the unexpected can be tolerated.

• You must all speak openly and frankly about particular issues, staff members, deals, and about the enterprise generally.
• There is no room for suspicion or over-sensitivity when it comes to discussing a business challenge or issue.
• Frequent, easy conversation not only ensures that any consensus reached is sensible and stable, but also strengthens relationships and builds trust.
  

• Relating well, trusting, and communicating openly not only get work done effectively, they also solidify bonds of friendship so that everyone positively enjoys work.
• When there is a failure, or things go wrong, you will realize that your colleagues are as unhappy about it as you are, and whoever is responsible feels personally mortified.

• Personal chemistry is only a small part of the process. Intrinsic to relating well to your closest colleagues is the unqualified attribution of special status.
• Treat them differently: be sensitive to their preferences and wishes; adapt to their needs and idiosyncrasies.
• You are dependent on these key colleagues and so they will feel, and perhaps even become in due course, almost irreplaceable.
  

• You have always wanted to work with people of high general capability plus special expertise. However, capability is no longer just work capability: it must include the ability to master their own personalities and weaknesses sufficiently to be ready and willing to be loyal and put the organization first.
• Seek people whose careers have reached the point where ambition is not an issue and loyalty is natural.
• Ensure selected colleagues look to work to find their primary fulfilment.
• Check that cooperation, consensus and collaboration are highly valued, and avoid individualist-mavericks, no matter how bright.
  

• Giving unequivocal support and encouragement when things are tough or failing will hasten the rescue or resolution and enable learning.
• Relating of this sort is rather straightforward as long as colleagues have integrity, share your goals and accept your style.
• It is an aspect of loyalty, given because of a conviction that all members are putting the firm before themselves or anyone else.

Deepening of relationships can lead to feelings of obligation and over-involvement that are not appropriate within the commercial or organizational context and can lead to actions that can compromise yourself or your shared goals.

Building trust is difficult and can generate vulnerability. So in the effort to ease relating and feel safer, there can be a tendency to clone: i.e. to choose colleagues who resemble you rather than complement you.

Free communication fosters closeness, but also deepens sensitivity to hurting feelings, which can inhibit discussions on certain topics.

Pleasurable joint work in the Core Group can also engender isolation and interfere with the participation and social relations of senior and middle management more widely.

Attribution of specialness can drift into mutual admiration, idealization and favouritism with a reluctance to see and handle character flaws that endanger the group effort.

Capable and loyal colleagues can lead you to become over-dependent on them and their views, distancing or rejecting outsiders who possess expertise that the Core Group lacks.

Unequivocal support can be associated with group folly in which conformity fosters denial and disconnection from reality.