Trust is Essential for Success

Do we trust those around us? Do those around us trust us? How does trust impact the performance of our teams? How does trust impact our success? These are great questions and the answers have a great impact on how we are perceived and our success. Trust is the fundamental currency of leadership.

Trust is the foundation of high performance. Before others are willing to go the extra distance to help us achieve our goals, they must be able to trust that our interest aligns with their interest. If we are not trustworthy or those around us are not trustworthy then the basic foundation of high performance is broken. There must be a firm belief in place that what is good for us is good for me. Without that firm belief there will always be doubt and reservation around the risks we are taking and the result it may produce. Where there is doubt or insecurity at the personal level, people will not give their best. In order for people to put it all on the line for a result they must trust that the result will be in their best interest.

So what is trust? Dictionary.com defines trust as “Firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” Essentially, trust is believing in something or someone to such an extent that they can be taken at their word. If they say it or convey it, then it can be believed. The “it” can be a vision, request or most any action, but the key is that people are willing to follow because they have faith in the reliability and credibility of the person making the request. We are more likely to follow a leader because they are trustworthy. We are more likely to achieve what they ask because they have earned our trust.

The benefits of trust are quantifiable and are significant. Organizations that are led by leaders that can be trusted significantly out-achieve those where their leaders are not trusted. Research conducted by The Forum cites 10 years of findings that high trust organizations have some major advantages:

• 16% greater profit margin
• 19% greater operating margin
• 18% greater productivity
• 2.6 times the earning-per-share growth of less-trusting companies

These are significant findings. These are core business metrics that all businesses are striving to achieve. As we can see trust in leadership has a direct correlation to superior business performance. Building and maintaining trust in an organization should be one of the core goals and key metrics to measure the success of the leadership of any organization or business. It has a direct link to business performance and the bottom line.

So how do we build and maintain trust? It starts with keeping our word. People need to believe that we will keep our word and deliver on our promises before they will fully trust us. When we make a commitment, we must keep it without excuses or failure. Even the way we make the promise is important. It must be clear and solid. It cannot be built on vague words that sound good on the surface but can be bent to have different meanings. Our statements must be clear and precise. If people are to have trust in us, they must have faith that we mean what we say and that if we say it we will do it.

We must always tell the truth and be transparent. Misleading in any way or not telling the whole truth or misleading by not including key facts will diminish trust. Our word becomes our currency and if our word is not rock solid, it will not have value. We have to be careful not to make promises that we cannot keep. In the event we find that we cannot fully deliver on a promise, we must come forward with full transparency and help others see that the results were from circumstances beyond our control. To say one thing and do another will severely diminish our credibility and trust will go out the window.

Employee trust is strongly connected to the organization’s transparency. Studies have shown that as organizations become more transparent they will become more trusted and therefore produce better results. Being transparent means doing a good job of sharing information with our teams and not hiding problems. Often we can produce better results by openly explaining the problem and including our teams in the problem solving. This serves not only to build trust, but leverages ideas and involvement which will yield better results with deeper ownership of the solution. By being transparent and open about the issues and solutions and in effect “showing our work”, we build trust and credibility with those around us.

The net result is that building trust through being open, honest and consistent allows others to invest in our ideas and actions and yields better results. Leadership is most effective when everyone is pulling together toward a goal without fear or reservation. As leaders, trust is perhaps our most valuable asset in creating commitment and producing results. Trust builds relationships and unlocks the future. It is one of our biggest levers; it should be one of our biggest concerns.

Here are 4 tips for establishing and maintaining trust:

1) Be real – We need to be just who we are. Others can see through our facade and will quickly determine that we are not who we say we are. Leadership does not require perfection, it requires authenticity. We just need to represent ourselves the way we are and we will be seen as authentic.

2) Be transparent – We need to be open and clearly state the issue and reason for our actions. We need other people to see that there is no ulterior motive and that we are willing to “show our work”. Once people see that “what we say is what we do” they will buy into the idea. It will be apparent that we are not hiding something from them and they will more easily follow our lead.

3) Be consistent – We need to have a vision and continue to move in the same direction until there is reason to change and then we should articulate a new direction. With every decision we need to be consistent to the set direction and treat everyone the same. As leaders we are constantly being watched to see if we are reliable. Being consistent in our talk and action builds the confidence that leads to trust.

4) Be clear – Clear communication is always the key to success. It is especially important in building trust. People must be able to clearly understand what we are saying, where we are going and the progress we are making to know that we can be trusted. Mixed messages or carefully spun discussions will lower trust more quickly than it can be built. Clear communication is essential.

Clearly trust is a key element in providing good leadership. With it we will achieve greater results with less effort, without it we will live in a world of rumor, doubt and chaos. Ultimately without trust, we will fail. We need to be sure that we are building trust with everything we do, it is just that important.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I am most interested in your thoughts on building trust. Is your organization characterized as having trust? Please share with our community in the comments below.

Thanks,

Skip Gilbert