Every relationship has its
own unique and individual characteristics that makes it work well. When a person becomes involved within any
relationship – be it a working or a personal commitment – he or she begins to
look for the underlying culture of trust and respect that has been established
(or can be developed) as both a confirmation of their decision to participate or
an indicator of their choice to leave. The
actions and behaviors of those in leadership create a corporate culture (the efforts
and beliefs of employees working within the organization help it grow to
maturity) much like each participant within a relationship offers input when
choosing which road should be taken (the final selection being influenced by
the degree of trust that has been established within the relationship).
High Trust
organizations (and relationships) share characteristics that lend themselves to
a higher level of productivity, efficiency, personal investment and
effectiveness because they believe that trusting others to do the work with
little or no oversight does not “negatively impact” the achievement of
established goals.
High Trust Relationships
are:
· More
productive and efficient because they need less layers of management or
redundancy. Projects, assignments or the resolution of situations can be given
freely to others because a high level of trust has been established that
provides confidence the work will be done (correctly).
· Cost
effective because fewer follow-up meetings and discussions are required so
individuals can “actively supervise” less while expecting (and receiving)
independently generated results.
· Dependent
upon open and honest communication allowing for two-way suggestions, clarifications,
input and advise. If one party within
the relationship begins to feel “left behind” by the conversation or ignored
when choosing the resolution of a problem, he or she will begin to “do what
they are told.” Rather than becoming a
vital part of the solution they begin to be an extension of the problem.
· Celebratory
to the work (and accomplishments) of others.
They look for and find the “positive” accomplishments of others and
build upon what is being done well rather than focusing on the “negative” of
what went wrong or was not done correctly.
· Accepting
of others. They let go of the need to control with the
understanding that mistakes happen and learning occurs. The DO NOT allow others to continue to make
the same error continuously without modifying the behavior that caused the
problem. Trust must not be confused with
poor judgement. High Trust Relationships
provide for “walking beside” others rather than always clearing the way of
obstacles so that detours or obstructions are never encountered.
· Always
seeking ways to improve outcomes by encouraging participation, engaging individual
passions, leveraging abilities and rewarding positive contributions. They solicit input from “the team” as a
critical part of any effective solution – knowing that a good solution the team
supports often produces better results than the best solution imposed by others.
High Trust relationships
are value centered and rely on others to be open and honest about the status of
their work and ideas. They teach the
importance of letting everyone own the results of expended effort (sharing in
the rewards). Most formally (or
informally) assign a “leader” to monitor progress and help clear the way for
effective decisions to be made but do not give that person the authority to
impose his or her will in an unimpeded manner.
It is hard to convince a team that “we trust you have the best interest
of the organization in mind” if we never allow its individual members to make
decisions (or learn from failure).
High
Trust relationships clearly communicate that all individuals involved are responsible
for the work that needs to be done, expected to speak up if barriers to getting
results are encountered and accountable for the results achieved (accepting
both the rewards of success and the need to respond and react to failure). Trust cannot be established within any
relationship until we are able to demonstrate (not just say) that we let go of
the control most seek, give responsibility AND accountability to others (genuinely
seeking the thoughts, ideas and opinions of others before moving in a new
direction or changing a well-accepted process.
Unless (and until) we are able to trust others we cannot expect to be
fully and unconditionally trusted by others.
Trust is difficult to
attain (but easy to lose and sometimes almost impossible to recover). Trust cannot be claimed – it must be earned. Trust is not a “nice-ity” within a
relationship – it is a necessity. It is
not an objective or a destination but rather a path and a process. In order to effectively move towards a high
trust relationship we must increase communications (both verbally in our
“saying” and passively in our “active listening”), discuss openly the things we
often consider privately when making significant decisions that impact others
and clarify our expectations (someone CANNOT be trusted to do something if they
do not know what needs to be done). In
order to establish trust we must create more open doors (rather than closing
ourselves within an impenetrable fortress) and open more windows (so that
questions can be asked AND heard) while providing (and accepting) any support
that might be required to bring a concept to fruition. Until we open ourselves to experience all
that is around us as it contributes to the realization of our world, we will but view our surroundings rather than immersing ourselves in the dream of
accomplishing all things possible.
