The Relational Proximity^® framework provides a way of understanding, analysing, and measuring the ‘closeness’ (or distance) in a relationship between people or organisations.

It examines how both external/structural and internal/psychological factors combine to shape the relationship and its outcomes in a way which determines how well each party engages with the thinking, emotions and behaviour of the other.

Developed over many years of work in Cambridge, UK, it recognises that a relationship can be described in terms of five Domains: Communication, Time, Knowledge, Power and Purpose.

There are five Drivers of Relational Proximity^®

• Directness is the use of contact to create an encounter, and enable clear and effective communication in the relationship.
• Continuity is the duration of different interactions over a period of time to create a storyline and sense of momentum and resilience in the relationship. 
• Multiplexity is the way information is gained to build breadth of knowledge and an ability to anticipate and respond in the relationship. 
• Parity is the use of power to promote fairness and participation in the relationship and to build mutual respect.
• Commonality is the sharing of purpose and values to create alignment and a sense of synergy and unity in the relationship .

These mechanisms are used to convey or enable

• Encounters in which parties to the relationship are more or less present (physically, intellectually, emotionally or spiritually);
• A story of the relationship which links the encounters, gives meaning to them, and influences the response to future encounters in the light of the past;
• Greater breadth, depth and reliability of knowledge of each other through encounters in a variety of contexts;
• Fairness in the exercise of power (with reference to distribution of risk and reward and application of rules);
• Alignment of purpose. Individuals and organisations have multiple purposes, and so alignment is concerned with both scope (how much of my purpose is aligned with yours) and depth (whether this alignment is deeply rooted in shared values).

For each driver we can describe the experienced reality when the above are achieved and which feed back into the conduct of the relationship:

• The sense of connectedness that comes from fully encountering the presence of another (which stimulates both intellectual energy and creativity in the encounter as well as capacity to convey and experience emotional support);
• The familiarity and reliability which engender loyalty and obligation through the story of the relationship, a confidence and ease of engagement,  and a sense of rooted belonging;
• The mutual appreciation that comes from the sense that the parties to the relationship are worth knowing, and that they are to be valued as whole persons (as well as for their involvement in other spheres of life);
• Mutual respect, so that people do not feel used or abused and are thus willing to engage positively;
• A growing sense of shared identity so that people are more willing to talk of ‘we’ than ‘us and them’, and to assume collective responsibility.

All of these combine to support broader relational and business goals such as trust, accountability, increased competitive advantage or better management of risk.