A 2009 issue of Ken Ackerman's Warehousing Forum featured a lead article about business relationship management by Elijah Ray, Senior Vice President for UTi Integrated Logistics.  Elijah has been an enthusiastic adopter of thoughtful business concepts for decades, and has been uncommonly successful in applying new thinking to effective - and profitable - supply chain execution.  His approach to supply chain business relationships is anchored in four pillars described in Daniel Goleman's landmark book, Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence.  They are:

• Self-awareness
• Self-management
• Social awareness, and
• Relationship management

He goes on to delineate the skills needed to enable and manage effective relationships:

1. Leadership
2. Communication
3. Problem-solving
4. Technical competence
5. Collaboration
6. Strategic thinking
7. Creativity
8. Priority setting
9. Multi-tasking, and
10. Customer focus

Elijah continues by illustrating the application of those skills in a focused distribution setting, but acknowledges their applicability throughout supply chain relationships.  Importantly, he recognizes that many organizations are in transition from an old-school cost mentality to a new school that uses relationships to create competitive advantage.  In a critical observation, Elijah links success in relationships to the linkage of effective human connections with systematic processes.

With a nod to Dr. Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he calls listening with the intent to understand the beginning of true communication and relationship building.  Elijah Ray has, esseentially, created his own approach to business relationships by drawing from a number of sources. 

It seems to be working.  Maybe that's because Elijah walks the walk; he is as real as the ideas he preaches.  What's your take?  Do you and your organization have what it takes to build a sustainable relationship management process?