Why Focus on Trust

Today’s business environment is defined by worldwide competition, which continuously raises the level of efficacy a company must achieve to meet success in its markets. To achieve success, companies have developed the use of employee empowerment, self-directed teams (often cross-functional) and high performance work teams. However, such approaches can be successful only if the organizational environment promotes a high level of cohesion and cooperation, heartening the organizational members to focus upon the implementation of their skills, knowledge and experiences to define and achieve the appropriate goals.

We believe trust is a main pillar in sustaining cohesion and cooperation within organizations.

Trust creates and nourishes a positive environment in which employees feel free to perform and to devote their attention to the common goal. This trusting environment permits leadership to implement a change strategy and innovate without the barrier of suspicion. Trust also allows reduced controls, and therefore reduced costs. Effective crisis management is promoted by trust; people collaborate to find solutions rather than searching to put the blame on each other. Solutions, innovations, and improvements are aspects of an organization that are enhanced by information sharing and collaboration within a trusting environment.

Building trusting relationships with suppliers, customers, and partners is essential to business, especially in the context of the global supply chain. Trust enhances direct negotiations and interactions, and facilitates clear exchange of expectations.

What is Trust?

Trust is an aspect of a relationship between two or more people. It is recipient-and object-oriented. In other words it depends upon characteristics of a person as well as the role a person holds in a given relationship. The degree to which someone trusts a person and their capacity to be trusted in a given role depends upon the perception of that person’s capability, commitment, and consistency.

Capability is the ability to produce results, to deliver performance. Does the other person have the skills to get the job done? Does this person have a particular experience or talent they perform well? When an individual or team chooses a lofty goal, can they be trusted to handle the complexity or requirements – do they have the capability to meet the goal?

Commitment is the perceived intention that someone demonstrates in achieving success. Does each party have the other’s best interests in mind? Do they intend to act upon them? When unforeseen problems arise or the agreement takes more effort than originally believed, does one still make it happen due to the commitment to the other? Do some business partnerships falter because the commitment was more self-interest than to the partnership?

Consistency in trusting relationships is a harmony between words and actions. Does someone demonstrate agreement between words and actions? Do they live up to their word? We think of someone as demonstrating integrity when we can rely on them to successfully accomplish their goals in a consistent manner over time. Does an employee or supplier produce the same level of performance over time? Is the other person’s behavior predictable?

For example, a friend says that she wants to become an Olympic athlete. Do you trust that she’ll be able to accomplish her goal? Even if your friend is intensely committed to training for the Olympics and demonstrates consistency in her agreements over time, the question remains about capability: Is she capable of (i.e. does she have the necessary skill) qualifying for the Olympics competition in her sport?

A workplace example could be one of an employee who has the goal of moving from middle management to a senior leadership position. What trust factors are at issue in determining if this employee can do the job? Does this employee demonstrate consistent performance over time? Is she committed to the organization and the performance achievements that would help her reach her goal? And finally does she have the capability to handle the requirements of a senior management role?

Building and Sustaining Trust

In our desire to improve our workplaces, we need to understand how we can positively impact trust. Our trusting (or distrusting) behavior is driven by the trusting beliefs we have about each other. Our conceptual modeling of trust capability, commitment, and consistency are the starting points of building and sustaining trust.

We must act to influence these beliefs in people’s mind, to build credibility. Achieving results in differing circumstances will drive a belief in capability. Acting is an unselfish manner toward another will impact a belief in commitment to the relationship. Words that are repeatedly supported by actions will demonstrate consistency to others. Acting with a concern for trust will help to build a spirit of community and “suggests the importance of understanding the impact of one’s action on another” and the organization (Shaw 1997). According to Shaw, trust is built and sustained by three organizational factors; culture, organizational structure, and leadership.

The organizational culture is built upon a vision and set of ground rules that must be clear and meaningful to all the members of the organization. It must enhance open, direct, and honest communication and even familiarities across levels and groups in order to promote understanding and concern for each other’s expectations. It must promote individual development through continuous learning. It must show visible symbols of trust, such as not discouraging risk-taking and experimentation. The organizational structure must be simple enough to be understood by everyone. Accountabilities and roles need to be clearly defined.

Communication ought to be a process that facilitates information sharing and collaboration. Controls are necessary to define the limits of an employee’s authority; however, employee controls must not restrain creativity and energy. The reward system must be appropriate to encourage collaboration and respect for the organizational culture. The level of capability through the workforce must be consistently demonstrated. Resources and learning opportunities must be available to employees to allow them to achieve their role.

The leader is the one that shows the way to building a living and self-sustaining organization, particularly through its culture and structure. The leader’s behaviors and attitudes will be a model to their followers. For these reasons, the leader is required to act in a trustworthy way, and enhance trust in the organization through levels and functions.

Engaging in a relationship, with a certain level of dependence or interdependence, pertains to the willingness to accept and/or to increase one’s vulnerability to another person (Zand 1997). Vulnerability can involve a certain level of risk to be disappointed or harmed as a result of this risk. Yet the concept of trust is significant only when a risk is a perceived as a possible outcome of the relationship (Kohen 1997). The trust threshold is also dependent on individual subjectivity, or the “point at which one will withdraw trust of others”.

It is very easy to cross this threshold from trust to distrust, but it is extremely difficult to cross this border again toward regaining trust. No one wants to be fooled twice.