Digital Library: Trust

Trust

Trust in any organization including voluntary organization works on three levels:

• At a company level in terms of culture
• At a team level concerning the relationships among the members
• At an interpersonal level between two people.

Trust is an enormous asset in any meaningful and productive relationship. There are several ways to build trust in a relationship:

• Be honest. People will trust you if they know that they can count on you to tell the truth.
• Share your experiences. Tell them about the time you made a mistake or experienced a failure. You can also talk about your values or beliefs.
• Keep your word. If you make a promise to someone, do whatever it takes (within reason!) to stick to it. If you can’t, be upfront and explain why.
• Inspire others. Demonstrate behaviours such as integrity, respect, loyalty, fairness, and authenticity.

Trustworthy people, Goleman highlights, act ethically and are above reproach, build trust through their reliability and authenticity, and admit their own mistakes and confront unethical actions in others. There are several ways how to develop trust:

Demonstrate Your Credibility - other person in interaction needs to feel that you have the knowledge and skills to help her. That is why credibility is so important. You need to show confidence by avoiding hesitation, making eye contact, and smiling. But, if you don’t have all the answers, don’t be afraid to admit it. If you’re open and honest with your team member, your credibility will increase. What’s more important is that you have the resources to find the answers together.

Show Your Reliability - another important aspect of building trust is reliability. To show that you’re reliable, make sure that you do what you say you’ll do, without fail. Be sure to turn up for your appointment on time, to return messages and calls promptly, and to remain sensitive to your colleague’s preferences and expectations.

Make the Other Person Comfortable - when your colleague feels secure and comfortable, he/she is more likely to open up and share what he/she is really thinking. This only tends to develop once you know someone well. You can help this process along by sharing some personal information about yourself, too. This doesn’t mean that you have to self-disclose every detail about your life! But telling stories from your past, or talking about your values and beliefs, will show that you trust the other person with your personal information. You need to find the right balance between how much to tell and how much to keep to yourself.

Show That You Care - your colleague or team member needs to feel that you have his best interests at heart, and that your relationship isn’t just about improving the quality of work or increasing productivity. Be clear that you are available at short notice if he needs to talk to you. And, if your plan takes longer than you expect to bear fruit, be patient and demonstrate your commitment to the process.

Significance in Times of Crisis (e.g. pandemic)

Being trustworthy is significant skill or competence in crisis times. When trust is lacking, interactions between people or people and organisation suck the enthusiasm and productivity right out of people, no matter how committed and driven they are. Trustworthy leadership is more important than ever for weathering the challenges such as: of COVID-19, war or a recession.