About Anchor Relationships®

THE ANCHOR RELATIONSHIPS® BRAND

Anchor Relationships is a research-backed framework and set of four assessments that measure the quality of workplace relationships. Kellie Cummings, MAPP, developed the framework through research conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and a fellowship with the Center for Positive Leadership at the University of Louisville. The assessments measure how each person in a relationship supports the other's growth, strengthens their self-efficacy, and helps them access and act on their values.

The claim this brand makes is centered in systems thinking. Relationships contain the emergent properties within an organizational system. Emergent properties are capacities that belong to the whole system but cannot be found in any of its individual parts. Emergent properties also tend to be latent, existing as potential but remaining unavailable to the system until the right conditions provide the “spark” to release them.

The Anchor Relationships framework creates the conditions for two people to work in ways that spark energy and expand their shared capacity beyond what they’re capable of as individuals. Through the assessments and training programs, people discover how simple shifts in their behaviors can unlock their own potential and their relationship’s potential. These experiences are generative, inspiring people to treat others similarly and creating feedback loops that extend across the organization. Feedback loops strengthen the system and the original relationship, which was already operating at greater capacity.

In systems thinking, a company’s performance is more than the sum of its parts; performance is the result of how those parts function together. The Anchor Relationships framework, assessments, and training programs work at the relationship level. By releasing emergent properties sitting dormant in relationships, the system becomes stronger and more resilient. And because people are shifting how they show up for each other their engagement lifts, generating the next feedback loop and so on.

THE ANCHOR RELATIONSHIPS BUSINESS

Anchor Relationships provides the tools and knowledge people need to make the most of their working relationships. We deliver this through assessments, leadership programs, and certification at two levels. Professional coaches train with us, become certified, and bring the assessments to their own clients. Organizations that want to run the programs themselves certify their internal facilitators through on-site enterprise training. These Certified Facilitators then deliver the framework to their own leaders and teams.

A trained expert, either a Certified Coach or a Certified Facilitator administers every assessment. We made this choice deliberately because relationships are inherently complex. Each person brings different needs and expectations to a relationship, and assessment results can surprise. Certified Coaches and Certified Facilitators manage that risk, guiding people toward the most useful and supportive reading of what they discover.

THE MISSION TO CREATE RELATIONAL LITERACY

The language most people use to discern their own relationships is surprisingly simple: words like good or bad, positive or corrosive. These terms are opaque. They shed little insight into what's really happening between two people, how that connection can improve, and whether investing in it is worth either person's time.

Sometimes that person we work with who tells us what we want to hear feels comfortable and "positive." But the person who challenges us and makes us think might be the most positive relationship in our network. It depends on what we mean by positive, which raises the question of whether the term “positive” is a helpful way of distinguishing relationship quality.

Relational literacy is language that informs meaning-making. It creates knowledge that people can use to judge which relationships to invest in and how to make those investments work. In its simplest form, relational literacy is about helping people avoid relational choices that cost them. The wrong relationships can have deleterious effects on a person’s mental health, physical health, confidence, and ability to act on their values. Relational literacy gives people knowledge and skills to protect themselves from corrosive connections and to surround themselves with others who will help them grow and remain aligned with their deepest values.