Every good working relationship I have comes down to one thing, and I promise it's something anyone can do.
This week's note is less about marketing and more about work in general, and maybe life in general, because the thing underneath every good client relationship I have is the same thing underneath every good friendship. It's trust. It's what makes a client call you first when something goes sideways, and it's what makes a colleague bring you the problem they're worried about instead of hiding it. The best part is that building it doesn't take any special talent. It takes a few simple habits, and anybody can start them tomorrow.
To me it comes down to three things:
1. Deliver real value.
2. Do what you say you're going to do.
3. Be honest about the good and the bad.
1. Deliver value, even when nobody asked for it
When I say deliver, I don't just mean finishing the task somebody handed you. I mean looking at the whole person and the whole business and asking yourself where the friction is. Where is somebody struggling? Where would a little support make their week easier? Then go help with that, even if it wasn't on your list.
I want to be really clear that this is not me telling you to work harder. It doesn't mean doubling your effort on every project, and it definitely doesn't mean busting your ass through 80-hour weeks. I don't do that, and I don't want you to either. It just means being proactive instead of reactive. Reactive is solving just the problems that are assigned to you. Proactive is noticing a problem while it's still small and helping with it before it becomes someone else’s migraine.
When you do this, people start to trust you for a very specific reason. They learn that you're someone who can take a nebulous idea, a half-formed problem, or a general feeling that something is off, and come back with something useful. Once people know that about you, they bring you the interesting stuff. You don't need a title or a fancy degree to be that person. You need to pay attention, and you need to care about the people around you.
2. Do what you said you were going to do
This one sounds obvious, and I still think it's the most underrated skill in any workplace.
The way it goes wrong is almost always well-intentioned. Somebody reads my first point above, gets excited, and volunteers to support five different initiatives. Then they find out those five things need way more time than they have. And instead of saying "I'm sorry, I overcommitted," they go quiet and hope it works itself out… It never works itself out. The people who were counting on them just end up frustrated and further behind.
Or the smaller version, which happens in meetings every day. Action items are flying around, somebody says "yeah, I'll have that done this week," a week passes, and it isn't done. Nobody calls it out, because they didn’t finish their tasks either. A little bit of trust erodes, and that is HARD to get back.
The fix is simple, and it works for everyone. Keep a list of what you've committed to. Look at that list before you say yes to the next thing, and be honest with yourself about whether it fits. Then get done what you promised to get done. Keeping that list short and keeping it true is one of the most reliable ways I've ever seen someone earn more responsibility, credit, and comp.
3. Be honest about the good and the bad
The third one is transparency, and it is very much a two-way street. You have to be open and honest with other people, and you have to be honest with yourself, which takes some practice.
Let's go back to the person who overcommitted. Same promise to get something done by Friday, same realization on Tuesday that it isn't going to happen. This time they walk over on day two and say:
Hey, I'm really sorry. I overcommitted and I don't think I'm going to get this done by Friday. I can finish it with one more week, or if you can bring someone else in to pair with me on it, we can still hit Friday.
That one conversation does something kind of magical. Instead of losing trust, they gain it, because the person they're talking to now knows the commitment was never about looking good. It was about getting the thing done, and they've been handed a real choice while there's still time to make one. You're not two people managing each other anymore. You're two people solving a problem together.
And once you've been that honest with someone, it opens the door the other way too. When they miss something, you can ask "what support do you need? How can I help?" and it lands as help, because they've seen you do the same thing from the other side.
Teams that work like this build on each other. People stop operating out of fear, and they stop guarding their time like there's never going to be enough of it. They feel supported, they feel like they're part of something, and all of it started with somebody being willing to say the uncomfortable thing a couple of days early.
Anyone can do this
None of this requires a special gift. It's a handful of habits, and every one of them is a choice you can make tomorrow morning. Be useful before someone asks you to be. Only promise what you can keep. And when something slips, say so early and say it kindly.
Every time I get these steps right - which isn’t always! - work gets easier and the people around me seem a little happier.
Logan