The criticality of trust

We all have a basic human need to trust. From birth, we trust our parents or caregivers to look after us, to feed us and protect us from danger. Even in the worst cases of abuse or neglect, the bond of trust between parent/caregiver and child is incredibly strong. But we’re also taught from an early age to mistrust, such as not talking to strangers. Generations ago the relationships we had were confined to those geographically closest to us: our friendships and commerce were all conducted within a community of people we knew personally. Trust seemed easy to define.

But in today’s super-connected, global economy, we frequently have relationships, however brief, with people we’ve never met, and will probably never meet. We communicate and transact with people we’ve only known digitally as part of our ‘virtual’ community. It’s much more difficult to be certain of who we can and can’t trust, and we have to increasingly base these decisions on new criteria. So what impact is this having on organisations?

The importance of trust in leadership

Confucius told his disciple Tzu-Kung that three things are required for government; weapons, food and trust. If a leader cannot hold on to all three he should give up the weapons first and the food next but trust should be guarded to the end; without trust we cannot stand.

There’s now a large body of research and evidence to support the philosophy of Confucius. Author Stephen Covey suggests that things can happen up to 60% faster in ‘high trust’ organisations. People follow leaders they trust, allowing decisions to be made and implemented faster, thereby creating a more agile, responsive organisation. Customers, in turn, are more loyal to organisations they trust, creating further competitive advantage.

Losing trust

But why can some people or organisations let us down and yet still retain our trust, while others make mistakes from which they never recover? Trust is hard to build, but easy to lose. And trust is often overlooked even though it’s at the root of practically every decision we make.

In an organisational environment, we build trust most quickly by demonstrating capability and delivering results. This is why managers often speak of getting ‘quick wins’ when they take over a new job or team.

Trust is lost most damagingly when integrity is brought into question, or when self-interest influences actions and behaviour. We trust people who we believe will either act in our interests or who will look for mutually beneficial outcomes. The world is sadly littered with well-publicised examples of how trust can be damaged when integrity fails or self-interest governs behaviour; think politicians and their expenses, or bankers and their bonuses. Once integrity is damaged or actions are driven by self-interest, trust is lost in a way that is almost impossible to recover from.

Becoming trustworthy

We can start with ourselves to build and sustain trust. Work on your own personal credibility. Build skills and knowledge that are relevant to your role, organisational strategy and the market in which you operate. You can use these capabilities to deliver great results, to take the occasional risk and to strive to always be the best you can be.

As you establish your competence through strong capabilities and consistent results, ensure you also demonstrate integrity. Be honest, stand up for what you believe in and have the courage to do the right thing even when it might be the most difficult path.

Finally, do not allow self-interest to lead you astray. Be transparent, give credit where it’s due as being supportive of other people and their needs is fundamental. You’re looking for ‘win-win’ outcomes where everyone benefits rather than just you in a ‘win-lose’ situation. This is how trust is cultivated and conduct is how people will judge.