Trust: The Glue that Keeps Us Together, The Oil that Facilitates Smooth Communication
During our CEO Michael Griffin's temporary absence due to sick leave this week, we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite content on the blog. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to resuming with fresh updates soon
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by Michael J. Griffin
As of this week, I have lived in Asia for 43 years. I came out as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia hoping to “teach” Malaysians a few things. But was my perception off? Asia has taught me much more about trust, culture, and relationships than I ever could have imagined. Asia has given me many warm loving caring relationships regardless of ethnic or religious backgrounds. The key to nurturing and maintaining these healthy relationships is trust. The Cambridge Dictionary defines trust as “to believe that someone is good and honest and will not harm you.” You can see from this definition that trust keeps relationships healthy and allows for open caring communication. Glue and Oil. My experience in Asia has taught me in both personal and business relationships that:
“The higher the trust between people, the less culture matters,
The lower the trust between people, the more culture matters.”
You can easily observe this in cross-cultural marriages, businesses dealing with “guanxi,” tribal warfare, and even in the “wall” that has frozen the American Government. My second observation on trust is:
“The greater the trust within a team, group, or tribe, the greater the distrust or acceptance of outsiders.”
We see this in mergers and acquisitions, new team formation, or a person attempting to join a team or organization. Recently, I read the Gazelles Blog by Verne Harnish where he discovered a very interesting book written by David Horsager called The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line. David describes “The Eight Pillars of Trust” and how they create a key advantage of speed, both inside and outside the organization, team, or even countries!
The 8 Pillars of Trust are Clarity, Compassion, Character, Competency, Commitment, Connection, Contribution, and Consistency. Here’s how I see the 8 Pillars especially when building relationships in and across cultures.
Clarity – People want a clear mission, vision, and goals so they can perform well. “People trust the clear and mistrust or distrust the ambiguous,” says Horsager.
Compassion – John Maxwell says “People don’t people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Remember to touch the heart before you ask for the hands.”
Character – Having integrity in all your relationships. “I am who I am, no matter where I am or who I am with,” says Dr. Maxwell about integrity and character.
Competency - Horsager summarizes it as "people have confidence in those who stay fresh, relevant, and capable." If we go for brain surgery, we just don’t want a doctor with a great attitude, we want a doctor who is also competent!
Connection - "People want to follow, buy from, and be around friends," writes Horsager. Verne notes that “competence and connection are reinforced.” We all would rather be led by a leader who is likable, trustworthy, and can build healthy relationships.
Commitment – Whether it be in marriage, teamwork, customer service, or competition, we much rather collaborate with people who are committed. “Stick with it through adversity is true commitment. Followers trusted General Patton, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Jesus, and George Washington because they saw their commitment. They lived a life of sacrifice for the greater good.”
Contribution – “Few things build trust quicker than actual results. Be a contributor who delivers real results,” says Horsager. We want to work with or be served by people who deliver or exceed on what they promise to do.
Consistency – Defined by Horsager as “ little things done consistently make for leaders being followed, increased sales and retention, and a higher level of trust. Consistency is the way brands are built and character is revealed.” Think about McDonald’s French fries or the ATM. We trust people and companies who deliver consistent results.
Paraphrasing Horsager, trust has the ability to accelerate success or destroy any business, organization, or relationship. The lower the trust, the more time everything takes, the more everything costs, and the lower the loyalty of everyone involved. However, greater trust brings superior innovation, creativity, freedom, morale, and productivity. Horsager’s research determined successful leaders all had one common trait—trust. He found that trust is not a soft skill. It is a measurable competency that brings dramatic results.
Practice the 8 Pillars of Trust as a leader, team member, sales or service person, and as parent, and experience the healthy dramatic results achieved in your relationships. Have a “Trust Building” 2019!
Michael J Griffin
Founder ELAvate
Trusted Business Advisor and Father