Most of the time, we don't get to choose who we work with every day. But our coworkers and our relationships with them are crucial to our day-to-day work. Not only can poor workplace relationships be real personal downers, they can also hinder productivity and bring down office morale.

To understand the necessity of positive relationships in the modern workplace, we spoke with Todd Davis, chief people officer and executive vice president at FranklinCovey. Davis's new book, Get Better: 15 Proven Practices to Build Effective Relationships at Work, is a crash course in building relationships of value across organizations. On this week's episode, Davis explains why we need to mitigate our emotional responses, how listening instead of talking can be a better way to contribute, and how establishing your own credibility with your coworkers can lead to relationships built on trust.

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About Todd Davis:

Todd Davis is the author of FranklinCovey's upcoming book, Get Better: 15 Proven Practices to Build Effective Relationships at Work, available for pre-order May 9, 2017, and to be released on November 7, 2017. He is also a co-author of Talent Unleashed: 3 Leadership Conversations to Ignite the Unlimited Potential in People.

Davis has over 30 years of experience in human resources, talent development, executive recruiting, sales, and marketing. He has been with FranklinCovey for over 20 years, and currently serves as chief people officer and executive vice president. He is responsible for FranklinCovey's global talent development in over 40 offices in 160 countries.

As the former director of FranklinCovey's Innovations Group, Todd led the development of many of FranklinCovey's core offerings containing the company's world-renowned content, and he continues to contribute to the development of new offerings. Davis has also served as FranklinCovey's director of recruitment and led a team responsible for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent for the company, which included over 3,500 employees.

For over 25 years, Davis has delivered numerous keynote addresses and speeches at top industry conferences, associations, corporate events, and for FranklinCovey clients, many of which are Fortune® 100 and 500 companies. His topics include leadership, personal and interpersonal effectiveness, employee engagement, talent management, change management, and building winning cultures.

Davis has served on the Board of Directors for HR.com and is a member of the Association for Talent Development (ATD) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).