Saturday 5 February 2011

What helps relationships work?

Here "relationships" means relationships of all kinds.

Relationships with:

  • Partners
  • Children
  • Friends
  • Acquaintances 
  • People with responsibilities (leaders of groups )
  • People at work (bosses, colleagues and 'subordinates'
  • Others (?)
Are there philosophies  that are particularly helpful?

The thinking of Carl Rogers for example.

Are there examples of groups that work particularly well (define 'well' ! - that you would commend) together?

Religious groups (how about The Quakers); political parties (the Liberals try to keep everyone 'on board'; other  secular groups with a common cause; neighbourhood groups sharing diverse interests.

Too complex a topic?

Have a try - start somewhere.

    4 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Geoff what about our Allies
    WikiLeaks cables: US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets
    The US secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent to persuade them to sign a key treaty, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

    HMS Vanguard is Britain's lead Trident-armed submarine. The US, under a nuclear deal, has agreed to give the Kremlin the serial numbers of the missiles it gives Britain Photo: TAM MACDONALDBy Matthew Moore, Gordon Rayner and Christopher Hope 9:25PM GMT 04 Feb 2011
    2690 Comments
    Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week.

    Defence analysts claim the agreement risks undermining Britain’s policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuclear arsenal.

    The fact that the Americans used British nuclear secrets as a bargaining chip also sheds new light on the so-called “special relationship”, which is shown often to be a one-sided affair by US diplomatic communications obtained by the WikiLeaks website.

    Details of the behind-the-scenes talks are contained in more than 1,400 US embassy cables published to date by the Telegraph, including almost 800 sent from the London Embassy, which are published online today. The documents also show that:

    • America spied on Foreign Office ministers by gathering gossip on their private lives and professional relationships.

    JAK

    Geoff Dellow said...

    Wow - you're an impressive source of information, JAK

    gladys hobson said...

    On a personal level, give and take. It seems that society is now more balanced towards 'take'
    Fortunately there are still some who 'give' willingly to part balance the lack of credits.
    Something that strikes me as a mere female, is the strident note of a few women (I prefer to think it is 'few' but suspect I am wrong there) who demand it ALL. Equal pay (rightly so) but not keen on equal pension age. Objecting if they get male attention, but dress to lure. I heard women on the radio objecting to going shares on a Valentine date — expecting the full treatment with no strings attached. And yet they may well be better paid than the man.
    On benefit issues. Much needs doing in the community of a varied nature. Everyone has something to offer, however small. Pride in small things achieved is better than hanging around complaining 'why should I? I won't get paid for it.'
    Give and take (erring, if anything, on the side of giving) in all relationships gives a balanced marriage, a balanced partnership and a better community.
    Greed is at the root of all evil — not money itself.

    Geoff Dellow said...

    One area that many people find difficult - me included - is dealing with people who see themselves as important and want get you to fit in with their mold.

    They are not people who find it easy to negociate. They often keep information to themselves, egg you on and can desert you if things start moving out of their sphere of control.

    The problem I find here in Ulverston is that people put up with this kind of behaviour and superficially go along with these people. As a result they then develop an exaggerated belief in there own importance.

    This is particularly true of some councillors and people who work for the town.

    It's a difficult balance to achieve.

    But we don't help matters in the long run if we shy away from challenging this behaviour when we come across it.

    Our dealings with the Ulverston Better Towns Team over the Flag Festival is a case in point.

    Another is the way the councillors deal with us over the misuse of Stockbridge Lane Car Park which only brings in £4,000 a year in parking charges. This is less than 15p per parking space per day. What a disgrace that our councillors are making a fuss about this when they had the opportunity when it was dicussed at the cabinet meeting in December.