Building Smart Trust

There is a business case for trust which does not need much explanation: business requires trust; and if there is no trust, business might not even be possible. However trust in business cannot just be “blind” trust – as the proverb goes, leaders should perhaps “trust but verify.” This is what Covey et al. address in their book “Smart Trust” (Free Press, 2012). For the authors, “smart” trust is the defining skill that transforms managers into leaders. The principle theme of the book is how to build “smart” trust to both be more effective in business and more effective as a leader.

Here’s how to lead with trust along with further considerations (“et alors”).

Building Smart Trust

The authors identify five key steps to building “smart” trust:

Choose to believe in trust

Belief is founded on “instincts” which encourage us to believe that we are 1/ worthy of trust; 2/ that most people can be trusted; and 3/ that extending trust is a better way to lead.

Start with yourself

Behave with trust – start with your own actions! It will be easier for people to trust you if you are seen as honest, straightforward, dependable, and genuinely concerned about their welfare.

Assume the positive

Assume positive intent in others! The authors cite the advice of Goethe: “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you will help them to become what they were capable of being.”

Do what you say you’ll do

Declare your intent and fulfill your promises! Doing what you say you are going to do is a “global standard” in building trust which transcends cultures.

Take the lead

Lead the way by trusting but verifying! Don’t be gullible (high “propensity to trust” but “low analysis”); rather show “judgment” (high “propensity to trust” and “high analysis”).

Building this “smart” trust can have an enormous impact on employee engagement (think: leadership) and business (think: commercial relations). When did someone last trust you and what effect did that have? Now give that trust to others (but also do your homework)!

Et alors

A recent missive about trust in organizations (from Berkshire Consultancy Limited) stated that “because trust is a perception, it is often a hidden variable that is difficult to understand, measure and improve…” In international organizations, it is difficult to even define a single and common definition, let alone measure it! The Covey book seems to be positioned in the context of North American contemporary culture that might be argued to be neither “high” nor “low” trust but in fact somewhere in between the two. The proposal of the book is to build “smart” trust – something applicable for both “high” and “low” trust cultures; but by focusing on “giving” trust, the steps tend to suggest a move towards “high” (or at least higher) trust culture.

“Low” trust cultures might not be comfortable in “giving” trust. In such a culture, trust has to be earned: the starting point is that there is no trust and it has to be accumulated (which is in contrast to the “high” trust cultures where trust is already given: the starting point is that there is full trust that is there to be lost). If you think you are in a “low” trust culture, then the steps might be more difficult to achieve as “giving” trust might be an unusual and potentially unilateral event. Nevertheless, as a leader, you will always have the potential to create your own culture for your followers and so if you wish to build “smart” trust, there is nothing to stop you “giving”! In any culture, “starting with yourself” and “doing what you say you will do” can only help build trust which can only help engagement and commerce!

Leading with Trust

On a management course last week I was reminded of Lencioni’s “Five Dysfunctions of a Team” where the foundation upon which all teamwork is built is trust. But, as a leader, how do you build trust; and how do others judge you trustworthy (or not)? Here I came across a wonderful “trust equation” proposed by David Maister et al., in “The Trusted Advisor”, 2000, Free Press. The book is written for professional consultants (or advisors) who need to establish immediate trust with their clients; however the advice works equally well for leaders and their followers.

Here’s the trust equation along with further considerations (et alors).

Leading with Trust

Trust = ( Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy ) / Self-Orientation.

Here’s each variable in turn:

Credibility

Relating to words, trustworthiness increases when your words and credentials are perceived as credible (including your “honesty”).

To increase credibility don’t try too hard, but evidently never exaggerate or lie: when you don’t know, say so! Be fully transparent.

Reliability

Relating to actions, trustworthiness increases when others perceive the “consistency of your actions, and your actions’ connection with your words” (otherwise known as integrity).

To increase reliability show commitments but don’t “over-promise and under-deliver”! Consider the relationship from a medium- to long-term perspective.

Intimacy

Relating to emotions, trustworthiness increases when others feel safe and secure sharing with you difficult items (e.g. that you won’t break a confidence or embarrass them).

To increase intimacy, engage people on a “human” scale and “never fall for the ‘business is business’ mantra.”

Self-Orientation

Relating to perspective, trustworthiness decreases when others feel you are only focused on them as a means to your own ends.

To decrease self-orientation, avoid the temptation to always appear to be right and/or win the argument; instead anticipate the other’s needs and consider things from their perspective.

Et alors

Trust can be challenging enough when it involves two people in one culture: imagine the challenge when as a leader, you try to establish trust across cultures! Generally, the more ethnocentric one of the cultures, the more difficult it is going to be for those persons to trust persons from another culture since they are going to assume that all their own references and behaviors are superior to other cultures and therefore the other person will lose out on most, if not all, the trust factors. Credibility might be influenced by the expert-general dichotomy: someone from an “expert” culture might find it difficult to find credible someone from a more “generalist” culture. There may also be implicit references to credibility according to culturally-specific academic achievements along with the weight any particular culture might place on those.

As for reliability, some cultures might “freely” articulate their thoughts, feelings and beliefs rather than expressing only what they can deliver in reality. Talking about what they would like to do rather than what they can do might make them appear less reliable to other more “rational” cultures. Intimacy might be influenced by “agreeableness” – a personality trait that has been correlated with cultures. The more agreeable (i.e. open, affable, approachable) a person (or collection of persons), the more that trust might be increased. The self-orientation might be heavily influenced by the individual-collective cultural dichotomy with persons from the former possibly believing that people will only ever be motivated by “what’s in it for them”; whereas persons from the latter being more “receptive” to the idea of both giving and receiving focus on others.

Finally, a big inter-cultural difference with trust which is not addressed in this equation is that some cultures start with full trust which is something to be lost whereas other cultures start with no trust which is something to be gained. Take two persons from the first culture: when they meet for the first time they will implicitly trust each other and will continue to do so until one of them does something to negate that trust; then the other culture: when persons meet for the first time they will implicitly not trust each other and will demand of each other that trust is earned. As with many cultural behaviors, there is no right or wrong, but what happens when you are trying to lead across cultures with these differences? The impact will be “felt” beyond just trust into areas such as autonomy, delegation, reporting. Leaders need to be the first recognize and then adapt to cultural differences!