How well do you build and maintain trust?
Find below 7 stats that illustrate just how important trust is along with 7 ways you can build or repair trust. You can also use these 7 skills for self-evaluation – what are you doing well to build trust? What can you improve upon?
Seven Stats on Trust
First, let’s remember why trust matters. In a 2017 scaled US study, researchers found that compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies reported:
- 74% less stress
- 50% higher productivity
- 106% more energy at work
- 13% fewer sick days
- 76% more engagement
- 29% more satisfaction in their lives
- 40% less burnout
Seven Ways to Build Trust
Be True to Character
Know your values and resolve to never compromise on your values, no matter the circumstance, no matter the rationale. Be true to character and you’ll be true to people and they’ll be true to you.
Deliver
Do high-quality work and finish it on schedule. If you know you’re going to miss a deadline, communicate that you won’t make it and inform the other party of when you’ll be done. This makes you dependable and worthy of trust.
Be Responsive
Have a reputation for returning phone calls, answering texts, responding to emails, and following through. Responsiveness is not a common trait these days, but it is a common trait in those who earn the trust of others. Commit to being responsive and you’ll begin earning people’s trust.
Communicate
Communicate your intentions, motives, and commitments so that your actions and interests are transparent. Can you have trust without transparency? It’s very difficult. If people understand who you are, what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it, then distrust evaporates and trust quickly ensues.
Tell the Truth
You’d think this goes without saying, but this is violated enough that it needs to be said. And, there are times when it’s hard to tell the truth. It sometimes takes courage, ownership, accountability, and responsibility. So, commit to always telling the truth, especially when it’s hard, no matter the consequence.
Give Trust
As with most other things in life, you get what you give. There is karma in trust too 🙂 Give trust to those around you and in your relationships, and they’ll trust you in return.
Be Consistent
If you practice the above skills only part of the time, that means you lose trust the other part of the time. It doesn’t work to add fuel to a tank with holes in it. Be disciplined and be consistent. Do what you say and say what you’ll do – consistently – and people will give you their trust … because you’ve earned it.
So there it is. Be true to character. Deliver. Be responsive. Communicate clearly. Tell the truth. Give trust. And, do these things consistently. If you do, you become worthy of trust and you’ve earned the trust of others. That’s powerful. That’s the mark of a superior leader. That’s becoming your best.
How to Start
Want a specific way to implement these 7 methods to build trust? Focus on one at a time, and here’s how:
- Either individually or as a team, choose one way in which you can build trust within your team or with customers. Discuss it. Develop a plan. Execute the plan and keep each other accountable.
- If you’re not associated with an organization, choose a person in your life who is important to you. Use the 7 methods above to identify one way to improve trust in that relationship and then do it. Get specific and take it into a daily action item. Plan specifically what you will do to build trust in that relationship.
“If we do not trust one another, we are already defeated.” — Alison Croggon
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