Take 3 Trust Assessments, Learn 4 Trust-Building Behaviors & Do 5 Trust Strengthening Assignments Continually
Trust is both precious and a precarious subject that everyone has an opinion on. Trust factors are of course critical in relationships and vital for businesses to survive and especially thrive. I will focus on the business aspects because trust factors are directly related to your company’s bottom line. Hence, profits depend on the confidence and faith people possess for leaders, peers, employees, and the target audience. I will explain how trust is power and how to wield it effectively!
C-Level Global found in a survey that on average, people perceive others have greater trust in them than is actually true. Plus, people admit they think others trust them more than they actually trust others. Therein lies much of the problem organizations must root out and overcome. What is at stake is… customer experience, operational excellence, employee morale, company culture, and profits. Yet, trust was found to be non-existent on the top ten priority list of initiatives for 87% of the 241 CEOs who participated in the C-Level Global survey.
Ask yourself these questions about your company; How you are trusted, how is all leadership trusted, how does the staff trust each other, how do prospects and customers trust your company, and how do all the stakeholders trust in each other and the organization as a whole? I think a man who summed up the importance of trust the best is Roger Staubach, a two-time super bowl champion for the Dallas Cowboys who went on to build a real estate company that he eventually sold for $640 million; “If you don’t have trust inside your company, then you can’t transfer it to your customers.”
Everyone wants to be trusted, yet seldom are people actually giving their best effort to show themselves trustworthy. Trust is established over time as the result of many small actions and a few large actions, but even breaking trust in a single small action jeopardizes an entire relationship. Hence, trust is both precious and precarious, as I opened with. This also makes it dangerous to play in my opinion. So, you need to have a definite plan when it comes to handling it.
How is the trust factor working out for you and your company? Take these three tests to see how much trust your people have in you, and have in each other.
First, take this quick Introspective Trust Self-Assessment:
Rate your answers on a scale of 1-to-10 with 10 being the highest.
How much do you trust your leader? __________
How much do you trust your peers? __________
How much do you trust your staff? __________
How much do you trust yourself? __________
How much do you trust your prospects? __________
How much do you trust your customers? __________
How much do you trust your significant other? __________
How much do you trust your immediate family? __________
How much do you trust your best friend? __________
How much do you trust your friends as a whole? __________
*If all the questions applied to you then tally your score and rank it based on a scale of 100. Otherwise, subtract the question(s) that did not and average your score.
Second, take this quick speculative Extrospection Trust Self-Assessment:
Rate your answers on a scale of 1-to-10 with 10 being the highest.
How much does your leader trust you? __________
How much does management as a whole trust you? __________
How much do your peers trust you? __________
How much does your staff trust you? __________
How much do your prospects trust you? __________
How much do your customers trust you? __________
How much does your significant other trust you? __________
How much does your immediate family trust you? __________
How much does your best friend trust you? __________
How much do you trust your friends as a whole? __________
*If all the questions applied to you then tally your score and rank it based on a scale of 100. Otherwise, subtract the question(s) that did not and average your score.
The average score received from 1367 people who took these two assessments was a 71 for the introspective and an 84 on the extrospective. This indicates people trust others less than they perceive others trust them, but on average they are wrong to presume others trust them more.
I recommend you allow your company to anonymously take these two assessments so they feel more comfortable to answer honestly without judgments or repercussions. Then compare the results and share them with the company. This creates an ideal opportunity to harness people’s attention to building stronger trust amongst all the stakeholders. Be clear about the intent and establish trust exercises. Tie these exercises directly to initiatives that can transfer to the prospects and customers. If you have benchmarks for customer experience, operational excellence, employee morale, and company culture, then set up comparisons over time as you work on trust. I suspect you have benchmarks of revenues and profits, of course, so compare and contrast these too over time based on growing trust.
Third, take the advanced Leadership Trust Self-Assessment on 13 critical competencies. To request a copy of this Leadership Trust Self-Assessment, contact C-Level Global.
Use these four behaviors to accelerate trust-building.
Many behaviors comprise trust. A select few key behaviors define your trust factors greater than others. Focus on these four behaviors, but do not neglect all the other big and small things you can do to build trust.
- Be acutely self-aware at all times, especially when you are angry or very happy. Balance your authenticity and integrity without being abrasive to others. Being aware of others allows you to genuinely be empathetic. “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” –Warren Buffett
- Practice giving trust first to important players in your life, so you can build trust with them gradually over time. Genuinely giving trust allows reciprocation to naturally occur. True and strong trust is not built instantly, but grows over time. “You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.” –Anton Chekhov
- Integrity is the pinnacle of trust. Unethical behaviors, making short cuts delivering inferior results, and telling lies kills trust fast. This type of damage is the hardest and takes the longest to repair. “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” –Albert Einstein
- Balance your words and actions to align and prove you are trustworthy so others are encouraged to do the same.
- Communication elevates trust, as words greatly matter. Own your message by carrying the burden to have people understand you, not the other way around. Be mindful of stories and jokes you tell so they are do not erode trust. Make clarity paramount and practice listening more than speaking.
- Actions define you, so allow your actions to demonstrate trust. Do what you say and say what you mean as follow-through is a pillar of trust. Also, follow up with others on their actions too, because accountability strengthens trust.
Here are your five assignments to build trust factors after you have everyone take the previous two assessments.
- First, get trust initiatives actively engaged in C-Suite strategy and tactics. Make this a top priority at all times. You will not get it right and then forget it, because trust-building is about continuous improvement.
- Communicate the intent to all the stakeholders and ask for their advice and ideas. Provide kudos for their feedback and demonstrate how vital this is by having the most senior leaders actively engaged in all trust efforts.
- Second, look up the numerous trust exercises you can use and make a list to choose from; I.E. Blind Wine Waiter, Turning Over a New Leaf, The One Question Ice Breaker, Perfect Square, etc.
- Third, create a schedule and plan to make trust and team-building exercises recurring. Weekly is too much but less than monthly is too little. Naturally, incorporate these exercises into meetings and normal business affairs.
- Fourth, get internal champions involved and assigned to help generate ideas and actively help raise trust. Get customer champions engaged too once you have your system for building trust performing well.
- Fifth, set up the trust assessments to happen every six-months so you keep a close watch on this essential key performance indicator (KPI) at the C-Suite level and throughout the organization.
Trust is power!
Make no mistake about it; your stakeholders will not give their best efforts, innovation, ideas, and morale if they do not trust their leaders, peers, and or their company. We hear often how “Great leadership brings out the best in people.” A tremendous principal I have learned to be a great leader and for building organizations with great leadership is to first capture the power of trust with the people you work with so it spreads. You see, trust is power, and to bring out the best in your people you need to be the person they gleefully give trust to. Then and only then will your people work together to maximizing their efforts, talents, and morale. That is how great leaders get people’s best work, which empowers building what I call, “Wow-Customer-Centric-Experiences. And this my friends, substantially grows revenues, especially when combined with Renaissance Methodology!
