2 Skills in relationship building

The way we spend our time with young people is important in developing our relationships with them. We talk a great deal with young people in planning and running activities, we listen to their needs, issues, problems and achievements, we share their concerns and this enables us to offer help and support. The basic skills required for effective relationship building involve:

• listening
• conversing
• observation.

They are fundamentally important to relationship building. As we have already said, building relationships with young people is not always easy. Some young people may be confrontational and not want to engage with you at all. An important skill here, which builds on the basic relationship-building foundations (listening, conversing and observation), is that of managing conflict, which we will now consider.