One of the key issues of the decade that impacts results and personal success has to be trust. Take BP and the oil spillage in Florida, the UK's Liberal Democratic Party and tuition fees, the banks and sub prime lending. Loss of trust has had a huge impact on public perception and hence performance.
Many Arab countries at present are attempting to overthrow their leaders where poor intentions have been followed through in many instances with poor behaviour leading to suspicion and mistrust. Sometimes the same happens in companies who gain low employee satisfaction ratings and employees jump ship.
It is true to say that many individuals, organisations or groups who suffer from low trust have good intentions. It is just that they have failed to follow through on them through their behaviour. Whether this be in the pursuit of profit and cost reduction or even survival. The reality though is that they are judged on their behaviour rather than those intentions!
According to Stephen MR Covey in his book 'The Speed of Trust' 22% of people trust the media, 8% political parties, 27% the government, 12% big companies. Not good reading.
Here is the opportunity. High trust people and organisations stand out from the crowd. They gain a premium ie they are much more likely to be listened too. Low trust people haemorage opportunity.
There is a kitchen company who I allowed to come to my home. They tried every sales trick in the book until I turfed them out after completely out staying their welcome.A quick search on the web then identified lots of unhappy customers. Of course all calls from them since have fallen on deaf ears. I would never trust them on advising me about kitchens. I would also never recommend them. Their intention was clearly to sell me anything and get the most out of me. They didn't care about me and now I don't care about them!
So if you have a bad experience you will tell others and take anything they say with a pinch of salt.
So how are you and your business perceived?
Do people trust you? Do they trust your organisation? Are you riding high on a wave of high trust performance? Do you have authentic intentions that come from really caring or are you in it for yourself? If you do have good intentions do you consistently walk the talk?
What is the financial benefit?
It has been identified that high trust organisations outperform low trust organisations by 3:1. From an individual perspective does it not also mean that if you are high trust then you will outperform others by 3:1? Well that may not always seem true if you look at it in the short term. It is sometimes the ruthless who seem to get on quicker. However, they almost always get caught out at some point whether at work, in relationships etc. The truth is that strong personal integrity and intentions will invariably leave you with an advantage in the long term.
In my view I would rather have stuck by some high principles and be able to look back on my life in old age and say it was well lived. Rather than look back with regrets having walked over other people.
How can you be more trusted?
It is possible to turn trust around. However, it requires a strategy. This starts with you and requires lots of personal follow through. Will you always get it right? Not always. Someone is always likely at some point to be suspicious of your motives. However it starts with you. It starts with a commitment to clarify your own intentions and then notice how you are translating that into your behaviour.
In the 'Speed of Trust' Stephen MR Covey says there are 4 core areas for self trust:
1. Your Personal Integrity
2. Your Intent
3. Your capabilities
4. Your Results
Change the Circumstances
To really follow through on transforming yourself and your organisation to gain a high trust premium requires changing the circumstances. It means doing things differently to the way you have done them before.
Having a trusted accountability partner who can help you is valuable. For me personally I utilise coaches/mentors, a business development partner, an internet marketer, an accountant who all help keep me accountable for following through with positive change.
Having others help me helps me be authentic in the services I offer. One to one mentoring and coaching and The Achiever Programme which is a group programme are great ways to develop successful behaviours with the aid of a highly supportive and trustworthy community.
For example we are currently studying 'The Speed of Trust' with 'The Achiever Programme' group as it has so many applications that can impact success.
If you are a business leader or a developing business owner who has has come from the corporate world and would like some personal support to help raise performance and increase accountability, I'd be pleased to chat without obligation about your needs and whether I can help.
You can contact me on 01455 824233 or email Chris@bemoreachievemore.com