Communication, self-awareness, self-acceptance, motivation, trust, self-disclosure, and conflict resolution are the seven themes of personal human relations.  These themes have two goals, the first being personal growth and development and the second being the achievement of organizational objectives. 

    The foundation of human relations is communication.  Speech, text, body language, expression, emotion, art, language, music and even behavior, are all forms of communication and as we all know communication is complex and is not something that we are born with.  We are born with the ability to communicate; however, how we communicate is taught to us and learned by us as we grow in our society.  There are behaviors that some of us find distasteful such as elbows or feet on the table or wearing a hat at the dinner table.  If you knew these to be distasteful, offensive or uncouth you would probably avoid elbows on the table or wearing a hat at the table, however if you wanted to rebel or convey distaste for your host then you may well want to wear a hat at the table as a message to them that would be communicated just by the simple act of doing it alone.

    Self-awareness is our ability to understand ourselves and how our behavior influences and affects others.  As you well know, some people are very uncaring as to how their behavior affects others or it just may seem that way.  Their behavior may seem perfectly normal and acceptable to them, but to others it is intolerable.  The ability to understand when your behavior is causing problems or creating a positive environment is self-awareness.

    Self-acceptance is how we like and accept ourselves and is also the degree in which we like and accept other people.  Self-acceptance is the foundation for successful interaction with others.  People with higher self-acceptance tend to accept change, responsibility, tolerate differences and work well with others.   Having a negative self-acceptance can create walls in human relations.  Not only is self-acceptance good for building relationships but it is also necessary for achieving goals.  The more you believe you can accomplish the more people tend to accomplish.  Self-esteem or complete self-acceptance is essential for effective human relations.

    Motivation is our ability to make others and ourselves accomplish tasks and get things done.  Without motivation we would never strive forward from where we are and we would stagnate as a species forever living in a world that would never change.  Our motivation comes from within and those that lack motivation accept things the way they are or believe that even if they tried they can’t change anything anyway.  Those with high motivation believe they can make a difference, make things better for themselves and the others around them.  Those with high motivation usually accomplish major things in life or at least attempt to. 

    Trust is the building block of all successful relationships with everyone in your life or that you come across in life.  Low levels of trust can lead to paranoia, high stress, slow decision making, reduced productivity and slow flow of information.  Opinions are rarely expressed and discussions are avoided.  Trust is contagious.  Those in a trusting environment tend to be trustworthy and free with their opinions and suggestions and this creates a more positive and functional environment.

    Self-Disclosure and trust work together.  You can’t have trust without disclosure and you can’t have disclosure without trust.  Self-disclosure is your ability to submit information about your ideas, life and opinions freely to others.  The more trust you have the more you are willing to disclose.  Letting your guard down, and building walls are metaphors for self-disclosure and how comfortable you are to show who you are, and what you believe to others.

    Conflict resolution can come about almost daily in our lives.  Someone cuts in front of you in line.  We have been taught that this is unacceptable behavior and that it is unfair, so, how would you react to this?  Conflict can create road blocks for cooperative action and create distrust and decrease productivity.  If this situation was handled poorly then a verbal or physical conflict could arise and the productivity of the flow of the people in line would suffer.  The ability to realize when conflict is about to happen or your ability to avoid it is a valuable skill and is necessary for effective human relations.

    It’s apparent that these seven themes of practical human relations are a helpful tool to master and pass on to others for effective human relations.  If you or I were to lack in even one of these areas then the results could be disastrous.  Having a well balanced prospective of these seven skills and behaviors are effective to your growth and success in today’s society.  Practicing these seven themes in your work or business environment can lead to the achievement of organizational objectives and the success of the business.