By Kimberly Olver
Trust has become a big issue in the world of work. Whenever I am called in to do consulting in the workplace, often I discover some version of lack of trust in the center of the issue. Business people are asking the question, "How can I build trust with my workers, shareholders and community"? Sometimes the question is, "How can I rebuild the trust I lost"?
1. Be transparent. Make sure that you let people around you know your thinking on things. Don't leave them wondering what your motivation is-tell them.
2. When you say you are going to do something, do it. If you put your word on something, follow through. Even if you promised something by a certain time and due to circumstances beyond your control, you can't deliver, contact the person and explain the situation. Don't just wait until you can deliver. Keep people informed at every step.
3. Never say something behind someone's back you wouldn't say directly to that person. Stephen Covey talks about defending those not present by not engaging in gossip and actually defending a person's character and motives when he or she is unavailable to do it himself.
4. Let people know what you stand for, what you will do and won't do in certain situations and then proceed to do exactly as you said you would.
5. Demonstrate consistency. Your people need to know you have a level of predictability. In order to gain trust, it is good if others can predict with relatively accuracy and certainty what your response will be in a given situation.
6. Make decisions consistent with your value system. If your value is honesty, you must be honest. Don't decide being honest can be situational depending upon circumstances. If your value is kindness, don't be mean to certain folks while being kind to those you deem deserve it.
7. Allow people to question you and your motives without becoming defensive. Answer questions honestly until people are satisfied or you decide to agree to disagree. Tell others your hierarchy of priorities so they can understand and trust your decision-making processes.
8. Do not ask people to do things you, yourself, would not do. Explain the usefulness of what you ask others to do.
9. Demonstrate competence in your areas of expertise and continuously improve your knowledge, skills and abilities so people can know you are good and constantly improving at what you do.
10. Demonstrate through actions that you care about your relationships with your people. Listen to and respect them. Acknowledge their strengths and seek their advice on things about which they are knowledgeable. Extend trust to your people. Don't micro manage. Let them know you have faith in their abilities and trust them to do what's best.
Demonstrating these behaviors will go a long way in building trust with others. Trust is an inside out job. You must search inside yourself and decide what type of person you want to be and then engage in the behaviors that will prove this is indeed who you are.
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