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Trust

Trust is a beautiful word, it has a positive spin to it and also a negative spin to it. It is in a sense like beauty, which is in the eye of the beholder. All of us examine the trustworthiness of our surroundings at work and at home. At home, we evaluate the trustworthiness of people who are with us all the time while at work, as a manager, we evalute trust of our employees, and employees scrutinize the trustworthiness of managers and organizational practices and organizations.

Robin sharma the great man of wisdom says the deeper your relationship with others, the more effective your leadership. People will not follow you if they do not trust you, and before someone will lend you a hand, you must first touch their heart.

Trust can be viewed as interpersonal trustworthiness generated or evidenced in organizational policies, practices and top leaders and managers “walking their talk.” The focus on top management has become more acute as the failures of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers, AIG and Wachovia highlight poor decision making and goal setting. 

A new study conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity indicates that senior management’s practices are the more critical element to building a high-trust environment. Of course, no discussion about organizational trust would be complete without considering the power of company’s culture. Management consultant Peter Drucker captioned the power of culture when he said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Trust integrates many activities including transparency, engagement, employee relations, recruitment and retention, career opportunity, discretionary effort and security, to name a few. Because trust integrates so many of crucial aspects, it is not surprising its impact is seen as significant. 

How do organizations build trust ?

Building organizational trust according to an article I read is a process that must be taken in three sequential steps:
1. Create an equitable or “fair” work environment with policies and practices based on performance, rather than politics.
2. Ensure that management follows through on any program or plan that it launches. 
3. Develop a vision for the future that is challenging, reasonable and beneficial to all stakeholders.

How do we as individuals build trust with our stakeholders ?
1. Walk the talk - make sure you deliver on the commitments you make
2. Make sure people perceive you as a balanced individual who will look at issues in perspective and not take sides

Hope this helps ... have a good week ahead.
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