by Rick Baker
On Jul 21, 2010
While listening to Stephen M.R. Covey’s CD-book ‘The Speed of Trust’, I was thinking – if we could build trust at our workplaces then that would help pave the path for more passion at our workplaces.
I have been keeping my eyes and ears open for ways to build passion at our workplaces ever since a friend asked me –
“How would we do that?”.
How can we build trust at our workplace?
According to Stephen M.R. Covey:
- Trust impacts the ‘economics’ for your business. Trust is not just the warm and fuzzy right thing to do. A workplace with trust is much more efficient than one without trust. And, the economics of improved trust can be measured.
- Trust is the #1 responsibility of leadership.
- Trust can be learned.
There are 5 Waves of Trust:
- Self-trust (give them a leader)...credibility upon which to build trust
- Relationship Trust...behaviour
- Organizational trust...alignment trust
- Marketplace trust...your brand, your reputation trust
- Societal Trust...contribution trust
How to Build Trust at your workplace:
- Make trust an explicit goal…corporate and for employees
- Explain its value in economic terms
- Measure it
- Implement it: train and apply
For well over 10 years I have told folks 3 things are sacred to me in business. One of those 3 things was and is – Don’t Lie To Me. I have spent some time explaining exactly what I mean. From now on I will not have to do that. I will either simply use the word “Trust” or I will recommend reading/listening to ‘The Speed of Trust’.
PS: This Covey book strikes several other chords for me: the father-son ‘chat’ illustrates an example of family business at its best, the trust message encourages us to aim for a better business future, the statement ‘trust can be measured’ is compelling…and more.