There is an old saying, at least in the West: "You can't mix friendship and business." This assumption is not only wrong, infact, the very opposite is true friendships at work are essential. All the things that business owners look for from their enterprises - productivity, engagement, flexibility, staff and customer loyalty - depend on the strength of the interpersonal relationships that exist within their organizations.

"I can't say that everything is right with my area of operations," John, the risk manager of Mega Financial Services told me during our first interview. "I am not getting the level of risk notifications that would be normal in a company like ours. We know we have a risk problem here, but we don't know why." Mega is a Fortune 500 company with operations worldwide and John was particularly concerned about the risk profile of the company's US businesses. Other executives we talked to at Mega voiced their own concerns. They were united in feeling that if only that particular problem, which they were raising could be fixed then Mega Financial would be fine.

My company, Fortinberry Murray Consulting (FMC) , had been called by Mega's CEO in because the company's overall profits had been declining and there was a high rate of unwanted attrition of their best people, mainly to rival companies. Their level of engagement was very low (well below the national average of 19%, which is, itself, a striking condemnation of modern management practices).

John had been one of the prime movers in choosing us since he had worked with us in a previous job. Fortinberry Murray has wide experience in driving culture change, frequently around risk and compliance issues. Often these seemingly discrete problems are just the tip of the iceberg. Mega Financial Services Inc., is obviously not the company's real name and I have changed some of the facts relating to it to protect confidentiality.

Effective Executive Magazine, Interpersonal Relationships, Mega Financial Services, Fortinberry Murray Consulting, Modern Management, Fortinberry Murray, Corporate Culture, Decision Making Processes, Customer Loyalty, Corporate Leaders, Public Rrecognition.