I was in a large group business meeting a few months back and as I was taking notes, the guy speaking said the following: “Before you make new relationships, fix the broken ones.”

I wrote it down because he was right. Especially in business, you have to focus your energies on fixing the relationships you have in your pocket before you add more to your plate. Because think about it…

If you have problems in your current relationships, aren’t you bound to make the same mistakes with the next batch of relationships?

I’ve seen people who have bad business relationships just “cut their losses” and create a new relationship with someone else. All that is left of the past relationship is the bad taste in both sides’ mouths.

But what if, instead of cutting your losses, you schedule a meeting to discuss where the relationship is falling short. It’s no different than what you’d do in real life.

“Hey, I’m feeling like you’re not doing this, that, or the other thing.” It’s that kind of a moment. But what it shows is that you’re:

A) Interested in fixing the relationship,

B) Interested in seeing if there are areas to grow and expand the relationship,

And most importantly,

C) You’re honest.

What’s going to happen when you’re honest and try to fix the bad relationship is it’s going to help both parties put their skin back in the game. When that happens, only good things come out of it.

(Flickr photo via nickwhelleroz)