Why Relationship Builders Are the Emotional Glue of Every Strong Team

So far, we’ve met Eli the Executor and Isaac the Influencer during our 4-part Strengths series. 

Now, 💖 Meet Rachel the Relationship Builder

Rachel is the glue that helps hold her team together. When pressure rises or change hits, she’s the one keeping people connected, included, and grounded. She champions belonging, notices the quiet voices, and helps the team move together—not just faster.

Rachel leads with Relationship Building strengths, and your team likely has (or needs) a few Rachels.

Here’s what often gets missed: Connection work is real work. Because it’s often invisible on a KPI or OKR tracker, Relationship Building strengths can sometimes be undervalued—until trust breaks and everything slows down.

💡 What Are Relationship Building Strengths?

In the CliftonStrengths® framework, the Relationship Building domain includes:

Adaptability • Connectedness • Developer • Empathy • Harmony • Includer • Individualization • Positivity • Relator

Each of these strengths helps answer the question: “How do we turn a group of people into a team?”

Rachel may be the one asking “How’s everyone really doing?”—not to derail the work, but to protect trust so the work can thrive.

✨ A Quick Note About Rachel

While Rachel leads with Relationship Building strengths, that doesn’t mean she only shows up in that domain.

Most people have themes that span across multiple areas: Influencing, Relationship Building, Strategic Thinking, and Executing. This persona simply helps us understand what motivates someone when Relationship Building is their core driver.

🔥 What Motivates Rachel

• Creating spaces where people feel seen and safe

• Strengthening trust, inclusion, and belonging

• Helping teammates grow and celebrate wins

• Turning conflict into understanding

• Seeing the group move forward together

   

🚧 What Drains Rachel

• Transactional cultures that ignore people’s needs

• Rushed decisions with no time for input or context

• Unresolved tension and “smile and move on” expectations

• Recognition only for output, never for the glue work

• Being told connection is “soft” or optional

✅ How to Support People Like Rachel

• Treat trust-building as a deliverable, not a nice-to-have

• Invite Rachel to shape onboarding, feedback rhythms, and rituals

• Measure—and celebrate—the outcomes of strong relationships (retention, engagement, cross-team collaboration)

• Balance pace with presence: add check-ins, clarify roles, and surface tensions early

• Pair Rachel with Executing/Strategic partners who help convert trust into targeted action

Coming Soon… to wrap up our strengths series:

🧠 Stacy the Strategic Thinker – The big-picture thinker who helps teams make smart decisions

Each persona brings a different kind of brilliance to the table, and each one needs something different to thrive.