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Why Job Relations?
Why TWI Job Relations is Relevant Today
In today’s fast-paced and often high-pressure work environments, creating and sustaining positive relationships between supervisors* and their teams is critical. When supervisors face difficulties in achieving business objectives while adhering to the company’s values and policies, TWI Job Relations (JR) provides them with the essential tools they need. This program equips supervisors with practical, proven techniques to lead effectively, even in challenging situations, by building strong interpersonal skills that foster trust, respect, and open communication.
Why focus on creating and maintaining good job relations? Because, quite simply, good relations lead to good results, while poor relations result in poor outcomes. Positive job relations lay the groundwork for a collaborative, resilient, and engaged workforce, directly impacting productivity and morale. Job Relations helps supervisors not only address issues effectively but also prevents problems from escalating, aligning team performance with organizational goals.
In a world where organizations face constant change and increased expectations, TWI Job Relations remains an invaluable tool to enhance team dynamics, drive performance, and ensure that supervisors are equipped with the skills necessary to lead their teams to success.
Note: “Supervisors” here refers to anyone in charge of people or who directs the work of others.
Benefits of TWI Job Relations
Create and maintain good job relations
With a balanced focus on the well-being of your people and clear expectations for their contribution.
Make changes flow faster and smoother
Help people through the changes and work with them to see possibilities and options.
Practice your company values and policies
Walk the talk. Make your company values come to life in your daily interactions with people.
Continuous development of leadership skills
With a balanced focus on the well-being of your people and clear expectations for their contribution.
Create a safe work environment
When we feel safe, our ability and creativity grow, and we deliver better results.
Learn from our cases
Discover our Job Relations cases
VELUX: TWI Job Relations
”The ‘squareness’ of the method creates some valuable challenges and possibilities in our conversations. It shuts down short-sighted views at exactly the right time. It allows you the opportunity to listen more – because it’s so systematic. Also, what enters the room, stays in the room. Confidenality is maintained by all managers,” says Production Manager at VELUX, Kim Diabelez, after having worked with TWI Job Relation in almost a year.
Trifork: TWI Job Relations
“After witnessing the benefits firsthand, we agreed to implement the Job Relations program and continue to see promising results. Our commitment to this training program reflects our dedication to creating a positive work environment where effective communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution are prioritized, ultimately resulting in a more fulfilling workplace experience for all employees,” says Jesper.
“Job Relations provide simple tools for managers to detect and minimize conflicts before they arise and ensure everyone is aligned with the company’s culture.”
“It’s an incredibly effective method. Personally, it’s made me more reflective and self-aware. Whenever I feel wronged, I now consider that there might be another explanation or way to view the situation.”
“Job Relations is the very source that holds the PDCA cycle in place, so it doesn’t roll backwards“
Ready to get started?
What is TWI Job Relations
The thinking behind
The underlying philosophy of Job Relations
The Job Relations approach in TWI emphasizes that achieving results depends on the strength of the relationships supervisors build with their people. At its core, this philosophy recognizes the need to consistently invest in people, fostering mutual respect, trust, and understanding.
1. Our Responsibility: Placing People at the Center
As supervisors, we have many responsibilities. Our main responsibility is to serve our people. We get results through our people, and we have a two-way relationship with them called the Job Relations line.
2. Foundation for Job Relations: Strengthening the Job Relations Line
By using the foundations for good job relations, we can improve and maintain our job relations with the people we serve, and using them daily will help us prevent people problems. Their use will only prevent some problems, but they will prove their value when we apply them daily.
3. Embracing Individuality: Adapting to each unique Person
People are unique, and we must treat them as individuals. We are affected by what we experience, learn, and bring from the past every day. Therefore, supervisors can’t do the same actions every day and expect the same outcome; this is where we are different from machines.
The Job Relations card
Key Principles for Successful Job Relations
What are the elements of Job Relations
In TWI Job Relations, key elements guide supervisors in their leadership development. Each element is designed to provide practical support and guidance, helping supervisors make better decisions when working with and through people.
Foundations for good job relations
In TWI Job Relations, treating people as individuals is essential to building strong job relationships. This involves applying the four foundations for good job relations: (1) Tell each person how they are preforming by providing clear, constructive feedback; (2) Giving credit when due to acknowledge and reinforce positive contributions; (3) Tell people in advance about changes that will affect them to build trust and transparency; and (4) Make best use of each person’s abilities by removing barriers that may hinder their performance. Practicing these foundations daily fosters an environment where people feel valued, understood, and motivated to do their best.
How Problems Come Up and Escalate
In managing people, problems can arise in various ways, and recognizing early signs can make a significant difference. Supervisors need to be vigilant about potential issues and learn to address them promptly. Problems typically arise in four key ways: (1) Sizing up before it happens—anticipating potential issues through observation and proactive communication; (2) Being tipped off—receiving informal or indirect information that something might be wrong; (3) Coming to you—when team members approach you directly with their concerns; and (4) Running into—encountering unexpected issues that arise suddenly. By understanding these pathways, supervisors can better manage and resolve problems before they escalate, ensuring a more stable and productive work environment.
Getting Opinions and Feelings
A critical part of TWI Job Relations is actively seeking the opinions and feelings of team members. This open, respectful dialogue helps supervisors gain deeper insights into team dynamics and individual concerns, contributing to better-informed decisions. By valuing each person’s input, supervisors create a more inclusive, collaborative environment where people feel seen, heard, and empowered.
TWI JR 4-step method
The TWI Job Relations 4-Step Method is a practical framework for addressing people-related issues, with a focus on balanced objectives that consider both business outcomes and interpersonal relationships. Supervisors begin by defining clear and measurable objectives that include a business goal and a people goal (e.g., ensuring Person A completes the report on time while also rebuilding mutual trust).
With a clear, balanced objective in place, supervisors then proceed through the 4 steps:
- Get All the Facts
Gather all relevant information, including opinions and feelings, to fully understand the situation from every perspective. - Weigh and Decide
Carefully evaluate possible actions, considering the pros and cons of each option to select the most effective actions. - Take Action
Plan and implement the chosen actions decisively, ensuring it aligns with the initial balanced objective. - Check Results
Check the outcomes, comparing them to the original objectives to determine if both the business and people goals were met.
If the objective is not fully achieved, the supervisor revisits steps 1-3 to identify potential improvements and gain insights for a revised approach. This cycle reflects a PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) approach, where supervisors learn by doing, refining their leadership skills through practical application and continuous improvement.
This structured method fosters informed, fair decision-making that respects operational needs and supports team well-being, while also cultivating leadership skills and effective relationship-building techniques.
Learning & Sharing sessions
TWI Job Relations provides supervisors with weekly Learning & Sharing Sessions, led by their own leader, as a supportive and confidential space to reflect on and practice the JR elements. In these sessions, the supervisor’s leader plays a key role in facilitating the learning process, guiding supervisors through reflective thinking and hands-on application. Supervisors work through concrete, relevant cases to deepen their understanding and skills, allowing them to gain insight and feedback on real challenges. This approach, similar to supervision groups for psychologists, strengthens supervisors’ ability to apply TWI JR principles in daily interactions and enhances their leadership capabilities in a safe, collaborative environment.
How is TWI Job Relations Taught?
The TWI Job Relations (JR) program offers structured training levels tailored to small groups, ensuring close interaction and personalized coaching from the trainer, promoting knowledge sharing, practicing and to create a psychologically safe environment .
Each participant is required to use the TWI JR method to address a current problem during the class, providing immediate hands-on experience and encouraging early adoption of the technique. Practical exercises and guided discussions enable participants to build confidence in managing job relations effectively.
True to the hands-on nature of the TWI program, no PowerPoint presentations are used in the training. Instead, participants engage in active discussions and practical applications, a style that consistently receives excellent feedback for its clarity, relevance, and impact.
The training materials are kept up-to-date and in plain, everyday language, avoiding academic jargon to ensure accessibility and understanding for all participants.
Our Enabling Process and Global Certification Standard
How to get started with TWI Job Relations
At BTP, our TWI Job Relations training is more than a “check-the-box” exercise. Through our Enabling Process, we help embed TWI principles into your culture, fostering real behavioral change and lasting improvements in job relations.
Aligned with our global certification standards, our training ensures consistency and quality across all TWI programs. With our 40%-20%-40% learning model, new skills integrate seamlessly, supporting long-term change.
Built on the “think big, start small, and then scale” philosophy, the Enabling Process guides you through three structured phases, tailored to drive impactful results for your organization.
1. Get ready
Understand current state
Management training
Define future state
Select pilot project areas
2. Run the pilot project(s)
Train the pilot team
Pilot team prepares & practices
Conduct and evaluate the
pilot project(s)
3. Cascade and sustain
Train-The-Trainer
Rollout in the organisation
Further intregration &
continue to improve
The Global Certification Standard (GCS)
Our Global Certification Standard ensures that every program we deliver meets the highest quality benchmarks, empowering organizations worldwide to achieve meaningful change through consistent, high-impact solutions.
Certification levels
Get certified to master BTP’s methods! Explore our development journey from Practitioner to Senior Master Enabler, gaining unique skills and the ability to certify others. Click to discover how you can elevate your expertise and add value to your organization.
Materials and languages
Unlock the power of BTP’s training materials! From the Pocket Card to the Master Trainer Manual, each resource supports effective learning and consistent application across all programs. Click to explore how these tools can enhance your training and maintain the global standard.
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