Relationship skills

What is it?

The ability to interact positively with peers and adults and to effectively navigate social situations.

Relationship-building skills are a combination of soft skills (e.g. friendliness, collaboration, communication) that a person applies to connect with others and form positive relationships.
 

How does it show?

Demonstrating these skills to foster and maintain relationships:

• Communicating clearly.

• Active listening.

• Non-verbal communication.

• Cooperation with others.

• Resisting or managing inappropriate social pressure.

• Negotiating conflict constructively.

• Seeking and offering help when needed.

• Everyday acts of kindness.
   

What can we do to stimulate?

• Integrate a Make My Day approach into every day.

• Creating We

Creating We is a model that focuses on building a sense of togetherness, shared activity and connectedness. It recognises that when we engage in relationships we create a shared history, ways of behaving, a sense of understanding between each other and even, at times, a unique language. Creating We is about a shared responsibility for our relationships rather than “me” and “you”. It recognises that we bring our own unique contributions to a relationship and through interaction we blend them to create shared experience and understanding - the “We”. The model also recognises that the relationship will be influenced by the conditions and context in which it is taking place e.g. social setting, school, others e.g. teachers, students, parents, and government.

• Encourage and practise kindness every day.