NESO - Relationship Management
The Challenge
NESO wanted to strengthen how colleagues build and manage relationships with customers, stakeholders and each other, particularly when relationships become challenging.
The aim was to move away from reactive or fragmented approaches to stakeholder engagement and encourage greater ownership, honesty, collaboration and early intervention.
This was particularly important when dealing with difficult conversations. At the start of the workshops, 75% of participants who responded said they had previously avoided an honest, potentially difficult conversation with a colleague, customer or stakeholder.
NESO wanted colleagues to feel better equipped to listen, understand different perspectives, set clear expectations and address issues before frustration escalated and relationships began to break down.
Our Solution
We delivered an experiential, actor-led relationship management workshop built around a realistic stakeholder relationship that had gradually broken down.
Participants first saw the end result, with a long-standing stakeholder withdrawing from the relationship. They then worked backwards through the story to explore what had happened and where different choices could have changed the outcome.
Using live scenarios, hot-seating and Forum Theatre, participants explored the importance of listening, taking ownership, being honest, managing difficult conversations and addressing issues before they escalate.
Delegates were able to stop and redirect the scenarios, trying out different approaches and seeing how small changes in communication could improve the relationship.
Practical tools, including SHIRE and ASCC – Acknowledge, Share, Clarify, Commit – gave participants simple techniques they could take back into real conversations with colleagues, customers and stakeholders.
Practical Takeaways
Following the workshops, participants identified practical actions they wanted to take back into their roles. These included:
- Asking more open questions and taking time to understand the issue being raised
- Preparing more effectively for difficult conversations so they can approach them with greater clarity
- Using the SHIRE and ASCC frameworks in conversations with stakeholders
- Becoming more conscious of situations and conversations before they escalate
- Taking time to pause, think and manage their own response when someone is angry or frustrated
- Applying greater empathy and active listening
- Ensuring that quieter voices are heard
- Reflecting more deliberately on the quality of their existing relationships
- Using the techniques to coach and support others within their teams
