Thursday, June 16, 2011

You Trust Me, Right?

I've been thinking about trust lately.  It seems to come up in meetings, on surveys, in "the literature", and as a generally accepted concept that is essential for organizational success.  So with all this focus on trust, I assumed I could simply find the Trust for Dummies book and begin executing on it's various chapters.

Book, What Book?
I searched a bit, but couldn't find the book.  Turns out, trust is not something you read a book about, it's something you earn.  Chalk it up to something I should have known, but real trust comes from time, and energy, and personal relationships; not from a proclamation, memo, or edict from on high.  That would be a lot easier though, don't you think?  

Keeping It Real
So I'm forging ahead without a net.  I'm going to focus on open communication with my team, and trust them first.  I'm giving up HR jargon as much as possible.  Sure, I fall into the trap of letting synergy slip into a conversation every once in a while, but I'm really trying to stop.  I mean really, who uses the word synergy outside of the workplace?  No one, that's who.


I think if I keep it real, the people I work with will appreciate me, even trust me, that much more.  


How About You
How do you earn the trust of those around you?  Is it from a well-crafted email, or perhaps a glossy flyer in the locked bulletin board in the cafeteria?  Or, have you found another way to connect with the people that make you successful?

I'd love to hear from you.



No Excuses.


   


pic courtesy of Kommein



2 comments:

  1. Trust is an asymmetric absurdity of the human psychology. Consider how long it takes to build trust and compare that with how quickly it can be destroyed. We can trust no one. But then again, we can trust every human being to behave exactly like a human being should: Sometimes unpredictably, selfishly, other times predictably and magnanimous. Trust is a "lazy" word - it stops us from understanding ourselves and others. If someone lets us down and we lose "trust" in that person we have only ourselves to blame and hopefully we learn from the experience.

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  2. Anonymous - thanks for your comment. Clearly the impact of trust (either positive or negative) has a profound effect on us. For me, it means that I need to be as sensitive as possible when dealing with this issue.

    Thanks for your participation!

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