Trust is huge in our world. It is something that affects us in all areas of our lives.
Think about it, we want trust with our spouse or partner, we want trust with our children, we want
trust with our neighbors and our friends and those we associate with as well as we want trust with our co-workers, our teams and our leadership at work. We want to trust the schoolteachers for our children, the babysitter while we are away. We want to be able to Trust the
candidates and those that get voted into office and become our government. Even during these past few years with a World Pandemic, we WONDER who we can TRUST, Right?
We do business with those we know, like and TRUST. It is true! Our society has changed over time and is now difficult because it has become hard to know who we can trust. We value trust and it is especially important to build that trust with those around you. But before you can begin to change the amount of trust out in the world, we must first begin with ourselves. I have put together tips and tools for building trust and creating trust.
Tips for Building and Creating Trust:
- Always Demonstrate Integrity. You cannot take it for granted that others will know that you are trustworthy. To do this, you must always demonstrate moral principles, meaning doing the right thing, even when it is not easy. People buy from people they know like and trust…and they will always remember how you made them feel!
- Be Dependable & Reliable. Honor your commitments to the best of your ability and set clear intentions for what others can expect from you. Be consistent and transparent. They will trust you more for it.
. Be Real. People want to work with those that seem human. They want you to be authentic and they feel more understood themselves when they understand the real you. Be willing to help others, even when it does not directly affect you. This will gain trust and rapport with the other person and make you feel more real to them. Be comfortable with others. The best way to do this is to be comfortable with yourself and be real with them.
To build trust, you need to show that you are dependable and capable. Demonstrate integrity by placing the other’s needs as a priority. Ultimately, if you seek to build and maintain trust first and foremost and you are willing to put in the work and be authentic, it will show up and you will find that the trust is raised in all relationships.
There are 3 Areas to focus on when building and creating Trust both Personally and Professionally:
- Trusting Self
- Trusting the Company & Product
- Trusting your Team & the Management
Trusting Self:
Build trust within yourself. You must learn to trust you, your decisions, and your gut. You have these instincts for a reason. There are several things you can do to “feel” more trust within yourself.
- Raise your Integrity
- Raise your Self Confidence
- Raise your Knowledge/Education
- Be Positive
- Nurture Trust
Trusting the Company & Product:
- Believe in the Product
- Build a strong Foundation of Trust
- Promote, Preserve & Protect Trust
- Monitor Gossip & extinguish it. (The water cooler chat, the break room chat, the “bitch lines”, backbiting, complaining, finding fault, oversites, injustice, etc.)
Trusting the Management & Team
- Create proper channel to have a safe outlet.
- Safe & Positive ways to deal with negatives.
- Create a safe place to be heard. A place to take problems.
- Authenticity and the Real Truth.
Build a Foundation of Trust through Culture, Community, and mutual Respect.
I love venn diagrams. In this TRUST diagram I created, I start with the three main circles. They are Integrity, Respect and Relationships. These three areas are extremely important when we are creating trust. Where these three all cross in the middle you can see the core of TRUST. When all are functioning at optimum levels this is having mutual trust between people or teams or families built on a strong value of trust.
When you have Integrity and Relationships going well in trust, you have Collaboration. When you have Relationships and Respect doing well with trust you have Communication, and when you have Respect and Integrity you can then begin having exceptional Creativity. When you put this all together on a consistent basis, you can see amazing things happen!
Raise your level of Trust with Self & Others: To raise your level of trust you must be willing to focus on how you can improve. Here are several things to consider:
- Reliability
- Competence
- Value System
- Consistency
- Sincerity
- Commitment
- Relationships
- Collaboration
- Perspective
- Network
Where do you feel that you get to focus on to improve your level of trust?
A lack of Trust can resemble “Cancer” eating away at the core of the company, the family or the relationship. Ask yourself this question: Are you part of the Problem or are you part of the Solution when it comes to building Trust?