Undeniably, the most powerful word in business and personal relationships is, TRUST.
In organisations where there is a high degree of trust between the management and staff, you will find a significantly higher level of employee engagement, leading to higher productivity. Similarly, in relationships too, higher the trust levels, higher the quality of the relationships.
Where trust levels are high in any relationship, heated arguments or misunderstandings gets sorted out very quickly, however serious it may seem to be, but in relationships where trust levels are low, even a perfectly handled discussion might be seriously misinterpreted.
Trust works in two ways, to trust others and be trusted by others. Let’s first look at trusting others, when do we trust other people? We trust a driver or a pilot for his perceived competence, we don’t know them personally but we trust the authority who issued him the license, similarly, we trust doctors and lawyers by their reputation or other people’s opinions. In the case of fighter pilots or paratroopers, they have their parachutes packed by someone whom they don’t even know or might never meet, a little variation in the folds or a bit of carelessness can be fatal.
When the paratrooper jumps out of the aircraft several thousand feet high, he must have complete trust in the person who packed his parachute, but since he does not know him he must trust the efficiency of the system. It’s a complete leap of faith. Now, how do you get others to trust you? There are several ways.
Try not to commit, but if you do, make sure that you honour it, doing whatever it takes. Share information, be free with knowledge sharing, withholding critical information can prove detrimental in long term relationships. Not talking ill of someone behind their back, if your colleague or partner discovers that you have been saying nasty things about them in their absence, it’s bound to affect your relationship. To be trusted you must be worthy of that trust. So you must be high in integrity, be ethical and demonstrate this regularly.
Stephen M R Covey, states this very clearly, “Trust is a function of two things: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, your motive, your intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, your skills, your results, your track record.”
The good news is that ‘trust’ is a learnable skill. By following the above attributes one could become trustworthy. Become worthy of peoples trust, it is incredibly rewarding. Remember trust is key.