Written by Horng Yuan | Photo by Liane Metzler on Unsplash
Trust is an essential building block in relationships and collaborations. Trusting a person means you have faith, belief, and confidence in his or her integrity, character, reliability, and abilities.
Stephen R. Covey noted that “Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships together”. Indeed, trust brings people together, makes relationships work, and makes things happen. People are willing to stick together through thick and thin and work things out because trust has become a strong foundation in their relationships.
It Takes Time to Build Trust
Do you know that trust is difficult to develop? In fact, no person can or should claim that he or she has the right to be trusted because trust is earned and is not a right. Trust varies within people and across relationships. It requires good intention and effort to build trust.
Trust is also fragile; it can be easily broken by lies, unfulfilled promises, misrepresentation of information, and dishonest deeds. Therefore, you need to handle trust with great care and always strive to nurture and maintain trust. Trust deficit creates doubt and destroys relationships.
The Importance of Trust in the Workplace
Trust is important in organisations for various reasons. The following are some of them, as listed in the work by Lämsä and Pučėtaitė.
- promotes cooperation and effective teamwork
- minimises risks
- decreases operating costs
- provides a foundation for social order
- contributes to improved quality of life
- leads to enhanced organisational performance
In addition to that, Covey noted that “When there is high trust, communication is easy, effortless, instanteneous. If you make a mistake, it hardly matter. People know you”. It is easy to forgive mistakes and move on when solid trust exists.
Seven Personal Trust-Builders
It is the role and responsibility of every individual to build and maintain trust in any relationship and collaboration. Trust begins at the individual level, and you can work on and use the following personal trust-builders to develop stronger and lasting relationships.
1. Be honest and truthful
Gain a reputation for honesty and truthfulness; be a person of your words. Always say what you mean and mean what you say, and do not manipulate information. Take small steps and start with small matters. According to Albert Einstein, “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters”.
2. Walk the talk
Practise what you preach. Make sure your spoken words are consistent with your actions. Your consistency will lead to reliability and predictability, which will help others develop faith in you. Those who have faith in you will walk with you.
3. Follow through on promises and commitments
Broken promises and unfulfilled commitments break trust. Be realistic with what you can commit to and deliver; know your limits and capability. Do not over-promise, over-commit, and under-deliver. At times, it is alright to say “no”.
4. Keep confidences
Consider it a privilege to be somebody’s confidant. Respect the privacy of the one who confides in you. Do not reveal personal matters, information, and secrets shared to you in private. You betray the person when you disclose his or her private matters to others.
5. Be loyal
Be willing to stand by, protect, and show firm support or allegiance to your people and organisation, especially when they are not with you. Take in and apply the advice of Stephen Covey, “To retain the trust of those who are present, be loyal to those who are absent”. Do not gossip and say negative things about them in their absence.
6. Develop personal competence
Always strive to learn and improve your knowledge and skills. You can read about how to become an agile learner here. When you are competent, others can count on you and hold up your end of the bargain.
7. Be humble
Refrain from exaggeration and making self-flattering or boasting statements about yourself. Humility is a great virtue. As the old saying goes, “Good wine needs no bush”. Others will eventually discover for themselves just how good and competent you are over time when they get to know you more.
Conclusion
Relationships thrive when there is mutual trust. Take the initiative to build trust at the individual level, and see your reputation, rapport, and relationships grow to another level. Others will find it a joy relating, working, and collaborating with you!
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