A red pot with a plant in it sits in a mound of dirt with a garden shovel in the dirt on one side and a garden hand rake in the dirt on the other side

TD Magazine

5 Strategic Relationships to Cultivate

By Julie B. Cummings

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Bookmark

Buy This Article

Even if you have all the right knowledge, success doesn't happen without the right relationships within an organization. Building strategic relationships will give you a community of advisors who have the right attitude, experience, and influence to

Coach

Someone who is genuinely invested in your professional development. Your coach could be your manager, or it could be someone external.

Advocate

Someone who will be an advocate for you in conversations with others—because you can't be in every important discussion in your company.

Connector

Someone who will introduce you to the right people. These individuals are usually natural networkers.

Influencer

Someone who has substantial decision-making influence in the organization and can give you a better chance of pushing your initiatives forward.

Informer

Someone with involvement in various teams who can provide valuable information to keep you updated and aware.

About the Author

Julie B. Cummings

Julie Cummings is a consultant, coach, speaker, and trainer committed to helping talent leaders transform cultures and build great employee experiences. During a 12-year career at BKD CPAs and Advisors as Chief Human Resources officer, she leveraged this philosophy to build an HR department from the ground up and operationalize the people function to provide high levels of internal service to employees and leaders. This includes creating effective hiring practices, optimizing performance management programs, delivering a comprehensive total rewards package, and maintaining high levels of compliance.

In her more than 25 years of HR experience, she has remained committed to lifelong learning and advancing the human resources profession by serving in a variety of leadership positions for local and state HR associations as well as mentoring young professionals launching their HR career. She has received recognition with the Springfield Business Journal’s Top HR Professional of the Year and Most Influential Women awards. She has been featured in Profile Magazine as well as the Harvard Business Review.

Julie is an active member of the Society for Human Resources Management where she holds the Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) designation. She also holds the Senior Professional in Human Resources® (SPHR®) designation from the HR Certification Institute®. Julie is a graduate of Missouri State University, Springfield, with an M.B.A. degree.

To learn more about Julie, visit www.juliebcummings.com.