Aeromedic - agreed. But how do you build good relations?
My view of the world is that you talk frequently to everyone on a personal level and also at the crew level. It takes a bucketload of time but management MUST walk the floor every single day they are on site and they must say hello to people they lead. By name.
And you don't sugarcoat. If things are tough then tell people.
You don't lie. If things are going well you tell people.
If things are commercial in confidence then you tell people that.
There will be plenty of times that the message is unpopular but guess what, that's life. Better to be genuinely informed than living in ignorance even if it appears to be bliss.
Be friendly but don't expect to be friends.
Bear in mind one of the key unstated functions of management is to be a common target. If that target isn't there then the crew fracture and form cliques and infighting emerges in the workforce. And that is far worse than a united workforce who dislike management (note this is very different to hating management QF style). It's not something that people openly discuss but it is what happens.