The best way to build more trust is to extend more trust. At first, it sounds like a poor strategy because not everyone is worthy of your trust. If someone is acting in a non-trustworthy manner, wouldn’t it backfire to extend more trust? The answer is usually no.
There are situations where it is just not smart to extend trust. In most cases, it is a good strategy simply because trust is reciprocal. To see more trust with another person, you should extend more trust.
Example of where it would not be wise to extend more trust
This concept should not be taken literally in every case. Suppose your brother has a severe drinking problem and wants to borrow your car to go to a party. Handing him the keys as a show of trust would be a dangerous strategy. That would not prevent you from showing him more trust in other ways.
Real-life examples are not that extreme
Trusting another person to take your precious dog for a walk would seem like not that much of a risk. It is all a matter of judgment, but if you take the risk, you will likely be heading in the right direction. This analysis is true in nearly all situations.
Video of a real situation
Here is a link to a 3-minute video on this topic. It contains a real story about when I suggested to a leader that he show more trust in his people. The video is entitled Find a Way to Extend More Trust.
Many leaders fall into the trap of demanding their employees show 100% trustworthiness before they will trust them. That strategy is one reason why so many organizations struggle. They are afraid of losing control so they withhold trust, and it works against the culture of the organization.
Logic as given by Stephen M.R. Covey
In his new book Trust and Inspire, Stephen M.R. Covey makes a recommendation along the lines of what I am suggesting here. He points out that when we trust people to do the right thing, we unleash the greatness inside them. The old “command and control” approach to leadership does not work in our world anymore.
Bob Whipple, MBA, CPTD, is a consultant, trainer, speaker, and author in the areas of leadership and trust. He is the author of The Trust Factor: Advanced Leadership for Professionals, Understanding E-Body Language: Building Trust Online, and Leading with Trust is Like Sailing Downwind. Bob has many years as a senior executive with a Fortune 500 Company and with non-profit organizations.
Posted by trustambassador
Empathy is a critical ingredient for building trust. When leaders feel the emotions of others, it leads to sound decisions. People recognize that their situation was factored into the equation. Their feelings were a part of the analysis.
Flip-flops are fine for the beach but not helpful in business. You can build higher trust simply by avoiding flip-flops.
In this article, I will summarize three conditions for trust that I call the Trust Triangle. First I will review the work of three other authors who are friends and have written on trust. I will share the essence of their models and then add my own to the analysis.
I have written about the work of several other authors in this series on trust. It might be appropriate to summarize my own body of knowledge on the topic. In 2009 I published my third book entitled, Leading With Trust is like Sailing Downwind.
In my leadership classes, I do a brainstorm of the things leaders can do to build trust. The entries come quickly. Soon we have a list of more than thirty things leaders can do to build trust. The items are all pretty obvious. Here is a very short list to give an idea of the kinds of things people list:
Trust and transparency are intertwined. In my leadership classes, we often get into a debate about trust versus secrecy. Conventional wisdom advises leaders to be more transparent to improve trust. In this brief article, I will share a more balanced viewpoint.
Building trust between people is a never-ending process. There is no finish line. Managers who attempt to build higher trust with short-term programs or gimmicks are usually disappointed in the end.
Unexpected trust is a very powerful form of trust between people. This condition happens for a number of reasons that I will explain. The result can be a huge powerful gain in trust, especially for leaders.
Every day we experience trust thousands of times, but we rarely are aware of that. Can you imagine what it would be like to have a life without trust? It is pretty hard to do. I will attempt to do it in this brief article. Trust is so ubiquitous in our lives that we don’t recognize it unless there is some kind of failure.